China Development Bank provides $296 million loan for Dobrush Paper Factory Upgrading Project (Linked to Project ID#66992)

On April 27, 2012, China Development Bank and the Government of Belarus signed a $296,348,250 loan agreement [CDB ID No. 2100401932011020519] and an RMB 328,575,250 loan agreement [CDB ID No. 2100401932011020518] for the Dobrush Paper Factory Upgrading Project. The USD-denominated loan (captured in Project ID#66993) and the RMB-denominated loan (captured in Project ID#66992) carried 14 year maturities and 4 year grace periods. Both loans were scheduled for repayment between January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2025. The Government of Belarus on-lent the proceeds of the two loans to a state-owned company called JSC Belorusskie Oboi Holding Management Company (or ОАО «Управляющая компания холдинга «Белорусские обои» or 壁纸股份有限公司). JSC Belorusskie Oboi Holding Management Company then used these loan proceeds to partially finance a ($509.9 million) commercial contract [No. ВХ-618] that it signed with XY International Investment (北京轩辕国际投资有限公司 or Xuan Yuan Industrial Development) on June 15, 2011. The purpose of this project was to renovate a paper (cardboard ) factory in the town of Dobrush (Dobrusch). Upon completion, it was envisaged that the factory would be capable of producing 200,000 tons of three-ply cardboard per annum. XY International Investment (北京轩辕国际投资有限公司) was the general EPC contractor responsible for implementation. A groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 15, 2013. XY International Investment then assessed the project to be 97% complete in 2017. However, its EPC contract was terminated in 2017 when it was discovered that the company had not experience with projects of this magnitude. The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, visited the factory on October 29, 2021, and was told that everything was ready in the factory regarding the completion of implementation for the new production facility.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Dobrush Heroi Truda Paper Factory Renovation Project and the Dobrush Heroi Truda Paper Factory Upgrading Project. The Chinese project title is 为多博鲁什斯基造纸厂改造 or 20万吨涂布白卡纸(EPC)项目 or 白俄涂布白卡纸项目. The Russian project title is проекта «Техническое переоснащение филиала «Добрушская бумажная фабрика» or Техническое переоснащение филиала «Добрушская бумажная фабрика «Герой труда» ОАО «Управляющая компания холдинга «Белорусские обои» с организацией производства мелованных и немелованных видов картона. 2. The Government of Belarus’ sovereign bond prospectus states that the Chinese Government has lent $1,000.8 million to the Government of Belarus for pulp and paper industry activities. This amount is almost exactly equivalent to the sum of the value of the two CDB loans in 2012 and 2014 for the Dobrush Paper Factory Upgrading Project and the China Eximbank loan in 2011 for the JSC Svetlogorsk Cellulose and Cardboard Factory Construction Project. 3. Neither the $296,348,250 CDB loan nor the RMB 328,575,250 CDB loan that supported this project are included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset published by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center in December 2020. 4. Multiple sources combine/conflate the two CDB loans that supported the Dobrush Paper Factory Upgrading Project and report the sum total of the two loans ($348.6 million).

Number of official sources

16

Number of total sources

22