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Overview

China Eximbank provides $69 million loan for Mambili Bridge Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#60219, #72791, #12892)

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$129,479,610
Commitment Year•2006Country of Activity•CongoDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•CongoSector•Transport And StorageFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Completion

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Jun 19, 2006
Start (actual)
Jun 18, 2008
End (actual)
May 15, 2012
First repayment
Dec 31, 2010
Last repayment
Dec 27, 2025

Geospatial footprint

Map overview

Visualizes the AidData-provided feature geometry for this project.

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This project involved construction of a 160 meter-long and 11 meter-wide bridge over the Mambili River along National Route 2 (RN2). More detailed locational information can be found at https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/203489334.

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Policy Banks

  • Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)

Receiving agencies

Government Agencies

  • Government of Republic of Congo

Implementing agencies

State-owned companies

  • China Road & Bridge Corporation (CRBC)

Collateral providers

State-owned companies

  • Société Nationales des Pétroles Congolais (SNPC)

Loan desecription

China Eximbank provides $69 million loan for Mambili Bridge Construction Project

Grace period•5 yearsGrant element•65.0736%Interest rate (t₀)•0.25%Interest type•Fixed Interest RateMaturity•20 years

Collateral

This China Eximbank loan -- and other subsidiary China Eximbank loans approved under a June 19, 2006 framework agreement that was renewed/extended in 2012 -- was collateralized against cash proceeds from SNPC oil export sales to Chinese importers (through an offtake agreement), which were deposited in a China Eximbank-controlled escrow account. The Republic of Congo was required to maintain a minimum cash balance in the escrow account equivalent to approximately 20% of its total outstanding debt to China Eximbank. The cash balance in the China Eximbank-controlled escrow account was $534,238,226 (CFA 272,846,414,000) in 2011, an unknown amount in 2012, an unknown amount in 2013, an unknown amount in 2014, an unknown amount in 2015 (equivalent to 26% of SNPC oil sales in 2015), $281,560,937 in 2016 (equivalent to 7,558,672 barrels of oil or 32% of SNPC oil sales in 2016), $338,285,020 in 2017 (equivalent to 23.25% of SNPC oil sales in 2017), $513,780,005 in 2018 (equivalent to 7,411,386 barrels of oil, eight oil cargoes, or 30.22% of SNPC oil sales in 2018), $523,547,187 in 2019 (equivalent to 8,228,065 barrels of oil, 9 oil cargoes, or 32.56% of SNPC oil sales in 2019), $266,659,781 in 2020 (equivalent to 6,349,813 barrels of oil, 7 oil cargoes, or 31.61% of SNPC oil sales in 2020), $319,164,228 in 2021 (equivalent to 4,585,056 barrels of oil or 21.4% of SNPC oil sales in 2021), and $356,343,684 in 2022 (equivalent to 3,634,514 barrels of oil 13.09% of SNPC oil sales in 2022).

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

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 Record ID#60219) was ratified on October 26, 2006. Three of the subsidiary loans that were approved through the framework agreement included an $85 million loan for the Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project (captured in Record ID#12892), a $76 million loan for the Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project (captured in Record ID#72791), and a $69 million loan for the Mambili Bridge Project Construction Project (captured in Record ID#72792). The borrowing terms of these loans were as follows: 0.25% interest rate, 20-year maturity, and a 5-year grace period. As of 2014, USD 69 million had been disbursed. The (principal) amount outstanding under these three loans was $38,226,782 as of December 31, 2019. All three projects supported Phase 1 of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project (also known as the Owando-Makoua-Liouesso-Ouesso Highway Project), which sought to connect the country’s political capital (Brazzaville) with its economic capital (Pointe-Noire) in the north of the country. The Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project involved the construction of a 73 km segment along National Route 2 (NR2) from Owando to Makoua. The Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project involved the construction of a 56 km road segment from Makoua to Mambili. The Mambili Bridge Project Construction Project involved construction of a bridge over the Mambili River along National Route 2 (RN2). All three projects were undertaken by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC). Their construction began on June 18, 2008 and ended on May 15, 2012.

Staff comments

1. The French project title is Les travaux du pont sur la Mambili. The Chinese project title is 奥旺多－马库阿－芒比例公路项目 or 中国路桥2号路 or 国家2号公路 or 奥旺多-马库阿-芒比利（2号）公路. 2. One source identifies the face value of a single China Eximbank loan for the Owando-Makoua-Liouesso-Ouesso Highway Project as 116409000000 CFA Francs. However, this value is roughly equivalent to the sum ($230 million) of the 3 China Eximbank loans for the Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project ($85 million), the Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project($76 million), and the Mambili Bridge Construction Project ($69 million). 3. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it identifies a single $303 million China Eximbank loan for Phase 1 of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project. AidData records three separate China Eximbank loans for the Owando-Makoua Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project, the Makoua-Mambili Section of the Owando-Makoua-Ouesso Road (RN2) Construction Project, and the Mambili Bridge Construction Project that the Congolese authorities disclosed to the World Bank and the World Bank reported in its September 2014 Republic of Congo Economic Update publication.