China Eximbank provides RMB 413.1 million government concessional loan for 71.5 km Odiénné-Gbéléban Road Asphalting Project (Linked to Record ID#71377)

Project narrative

On September 29, 2017, the Chinese Ambassador and the Foreign Minister of Cote d'Ivoire signed a preferential loan framework agreement for the 71.5 km Odiénné-Gbéléban Road Asphalting Project and the 61.23 km Agboville-Rubino-Céchi Road Asphalting Project. Then, on November 14, 2017, the Government of Cote d'Ivoire and China Eximbank signed an RMB 810 million (CFA 67,959,283,985) government concessional loan (GCL) agreement [GCL NO. (2017) 18 TOTAL NO. (623)] to support these two road projects. The GCL was ratified by the Ivorian Council of Ministers on December 6, 2017. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. According to the Government of Cote d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), 51% of the loan proceeds (or approximately RMB 413.1 million or CFA 34,650,000,000) were used to support the 71.5 km Odiénné-Gbéléban Road Asphalting Project (as captured via Record ID#71377) and 49% of the loan proceeds (or approximately RMB 396.9 million or CFA 33,210,000,000) were used to support the 61.23 km Agboville-Rubino-Céchi Road Asphalting Project (as captured via Record ID#71375). The borrower was expected to use the loan proceeds for the 71.5 km Odiénné-Gbéléban Road Asphalting Project to finance a commercial (EPC) contract between the Ivorian Government’s Ministry of Economic Infrastructure, AGEROUTE, and China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which was signed on September 15, 2015. According to the Government of Côte d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), China Eximbank made 6 loan disbursements (worth CFA 39,640,841,520.50) for the 71.5 km Odiénné-Gbéléban Road Asphalting Project between 2016 and 2020: a CFA 2,498,710,315 disbursement on November 21, 2016, a CFA 816,675,954 disbursement on October 31, 2017, a CFA 19,818,287,133 disbursement on April 30, 2018, a CFA 4,619,954,201 disbursement on June 30, 2019, a CFA 10,160,538,846.50 disbursement on December 31, 2019, and a CFA 1,726,675,071 disbursement on December 31, 2020. This project involved the asphalting of a 71.5 km road from Odiénné to Gbéléban. Upon completion, this project was expected to increase trade in the ECOWAS region (in particular between Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea), revitalize agriculture at the local level, and reduce traffic accidents. CRBC was the EPC contractor responsible for project implementation. The project was officially launched on January 25, 2016 and it had achieved a 25% completion rate as of August 1, 2017. One year later, in August 2018, 26.5 km of the 71.5km road had been completed. This project was ultimately completed on October 11, 2020. It reportedly reduced the travel time from Odiénné to Gbéléban from 4 hours to 45 minutes. However, the project did encounter some difficulties, including delayed Ivorian Government payments to CRBC, difficulties in the application of the Labor Code, and social unrest that led to work stoppages.