Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On June 25, 2001, the Chinese Government and the Government of Zambia signed a preferential loan framework agreement for the Telecommunication Engineering Renovation Project. China Eximbank and Zambia Telecommunications Company Limited (Zamtel) — a state-owned telecommunications company — also signed an RMB 100 million ($13,200,128) government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for the Telecommunication Engineering Renovation Project. The GCL reportedly carried a 12-year maturity and a 3% interest rate. The Government of Zambia issued a sovereign guarantee in support of the loan. The borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance a commercial (supply) contract between ZTE Corporation and ZAMTEL, which was signed on April 12, 2001. The purpose of the project was to supply switches and transportation devices for the construction and refurbishment of communication networks in 16 Zambian cities. More specifically, the scope of the project involved supply, installation and commissioning of 14 digital telephone exchanges and 50 hops of transmission equipment. ZTE Corporation was the contractor responsible for implementation. This project reached completion; however, its precise implementation start and end dates are not available.
Staff comments
1. The Chinese project title is 电讯工程改造项目. 2. SAIS-CARI claims that ‘this loan was likely for the rehabilitation of Grain Silos managed by the Food Reserve Agency.’ However, multiple official and unofficial sources confirm that the loan was issued for the Telecommunication Engineering Renovation Project. 3. The preferential loan framework agreement can be accessed in its entirety via https://www.dropbox.com/s/vlc2rbuah0z15lc/%E4%B8%AD%E5%8D%8E%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD%E6%94%BF%E5%BA%9C%E5%92%8C%E8%B5%9E%E6%AF%94%E4%BA%9A%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD%E6%94%BF%E5%BA%9C%E5%85%B3%E4%BA%8E%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%90%91%E8%B5%9E%E6%AF%94%E4%BA%9A%E6%8F%90%E4%BE%9B%E4%BC%98%E6%83%A0%E8%B4%B7%E6%AC%BE%E7%9A%84%E6%A1%86%E6%9E%B6%E5%8D%8F%E8%AE%AE_%E7%99%BE%E5%BA%A6%E7%99%BE%E7%A7%91.pdf?dl=0. 4. The loan that was issued in support of the Telecommunication Engineering Renovation Project was reportedly ‘the second international cooperation’ ever supported by China Eximbank. 5. ZAMTEL also entered into a $21,570,244 commercial contract with ZTE Corporation on March 22, 2002 for the supply, delivery and installation and commissioning of the GSM cellular telephone system in Zambia. More research is needed to determine how this contract was financed.