ICBC provides $180 million buyer’s credit loan for Phase 1 of Tehran-North Highway Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#41232)

On July 7, 2005, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) signed a $180 million buyer’s credit loan agreement with Tejarat Bank of Iran for Phase 1 of the Tehran-North Highway Construction Project. This loan reportedly carried the following borrowing terms: a 12 year maturity and a 5% interest rate. The purpose of the project was to construct a 32 km highway segment (known as Phase 1 and Section 1) that runs from an interchange with Azadegan Expressway and Hemmat Expressway in northwestern Tehran city (Municipality District 21) to Doab, Shahrestanak, Alborz Province. This segment is part of a larger 121 highway (known as Tehran-North Freeway, Freeway 3, or آزادراه تهران - شمال‎) that begins in Tehran and runs to Chalus on the Caspian Sea. A consortium made up of China Railway Tunnel Group, China Shanghai (Group) Corporation for Foreign Economic & Technological Cooperation, and Federal Aisa Shanghai Import & Export Co., Ltd. was responsible for implementation. Construction began in February 2006. The project had achieved an 83% completion rate as of May 3, 2017 and was originally scheduled for completion in August 2017. However, it encountered multiple delays, and its expected completion date was eventually pushed back to February 2020. Section 1 ultimately opened for test service on February 12, 2020 and it officially opened on February 25, 2020.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as Section 1 of the Tehran-North Highway Construction Project, Phase 1 of Tehran North Highway Construction Project, Tehran-Shomal Freeway, and the Iran-Shomal Highway Project. The Chinese project title is 德黑兰北部高速公路. 2. The face value of the loan is recorded by different sources as $180 million, $200 million, and $220 million. AidData relies on the most conservative value ($180 million) reported by the official (IRNA) source. 3. On September 22, 2015, China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth $2 billion with Tehran-North Freeway Company for the construction of Part 2 and 3 of the Tehran-North Highway (see Project ID#41232).

Number of official sources

3

Number of total sources

17