China Eximbank provides $26 million for Oyo Hospital Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#60219)

On June 19, 2006, China Eximbank and the Republic of Congo signed a $1.6 billion loan framework agreement — also known in the Republic of Congo as the “strategic partnership” (“partenariat stratégique”) — that allowed the Republic of Congo to obtain China Eximbank loans for infrastructure projects through a securitization mechanism: Société Nationales des Pétroles Congolais (SNPC)—the country’s state-owned oil company—agreed to deposit a portion of the cash proceeds from its oil exports into an escrow account that is controlled by China Eximbank. This framework agreement (captured in Project ID#60219) was ratified on October 26, 2006. One of the subsidiary loans that was approved through the framework agreement was a $26 million loan in 2006 for the Oyo Hospital Construction Project. This loan reportedly carried the following terms: a 0.25% interest rate, a maturity of 20 years, and a grace period of 5 years. It was fully repaid by the borrower. The loan’s (principal) amount outstanding was $0 as of December 31, 2019. The Oyo Hospital Construction Project involved the construction of a 200-bed hospital in the town of Oyo, the district of Oyo, the Central Cuvette Department, and the health district of Alima-Oyo (which serves 53,000 local residents). The hospital has several departments, including administration, general medicine, surgery, cardiology, ophthalmology, ENT, otolaryngology, urology, pharmacy, morgue, radiology, and laboratory analysis. Beijing Uni.-Construction Group Co., Ltd. (BUCC) — also known as Beijing Residential Development & Construction Group Corporation（BRCC) — was the contractor responsible for project implementation. The project was plagued by various delays. A foundation-laying ceremony took place on May 7, 2008 and the originally scheduled project completion date was June 30, 2012. However, the hospital was not open to the public until March 10, 2017.

Additional details

1. The project is also known as the the Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba Hospital Construction Project and the Oyo General Hospital and Hospital Road Project. The French project title is Hôpital Général D’Oyo or L’Hôpital Général Edith Lucie Bongo-Ondimba (HGELBO). The Chinese project title is 奥尤医院项目 or 奥约医院 or 北京住总OYO医院 or 奥约综合医院 or 刚果（布）Oyo医院 or 刚果（布）艾迪 露希欧尤医院 or 刚果共和国OYO医院项目. 2. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it identifies a $15 million China Eximbank loan for this project. AidData records the face value of the loan ($26,000,000) that was reported by the Congolese authorities to the World Bank and reported in the World Bank’s September 2014 Republic of Congo Economic Update publication. One source suggests that a Chinese Government grant was also provided for this project. This issue merits further investigation.

Number of official sources

10

Number of total sources

17