Chinese Government provides RMB 89.7 million grant for Phase 3 of School Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#40344, #73255, #73256)

Project narrative

On September 26, 2015, the Chinese Government and the Government of Mongolia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding a School Construction Project with three phases. Then, on July 14, 2016, the two government signed letters of exchange, which committed up to RMB 300 million of grant funding for all three phases of the project. Ultimately, RMB 67.58 million of grant funding was committed for Phase 1 (as captured via Record ID#73255); RMB 92.83 million of grant funding was committed for Phase 2 (as captured via Record ID#73256); and RMB 89.79 million of grant funding was committed for Phase 3 (as captured via Record ID#73257). The purpose of the project is to construct 7 new schools — with the capacity to accommodated 5,720 children — in Bayanzurkh, Khan-Uul and Songinokhairkhan districts of Ulaanbaatar and a new kindergarten with the capacity to accommodate 120 children. More specifically, the project sought to construct schools in the 6th khoroo, 25th khoroo, 26th khoroo of Songinokhairkhan district; schools in the 19th khoroo and 15th khoroo of Khan-Uul district; one school (School No. 147) in the 12th khoroo of Bayanzurkh district; and one kindergarten within the Tsetserleg soum and Arkhangai aimag. Beijing Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd., IPPR International Engineering Group, and Sixth Design and Research Institute of Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. are the contractors responsible for Phase 1 and 2 project design and implementation. China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC) and IPPR International Engineering Group are the contractors responsible for Phase 3 project design and implementation. A Phase 1 and Phase 2 project implementation agreement was signed on April 14, 2017. Then, a groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 1 and Phase 2 took place on March 27, 2018. Phase 1 was originally expected to reach completion during the second half of 2019 and Phase 2 was originally expected to reach completion in March 2020. However, the Covid-19 pandemic led to the imposition of multiple curfews in 2020, which delayed the implementation of Phase 1 and Phase 2 construction activities. By 2021, the construction of the two Phase 1 schools [the 26th committee of the SHD (СХД-ийн 26-р хороо) and the 25th committee of the SHD (СХД-ийн 25-р хороо)] was complete; the construction of one of the Phase 2 schools (10th Committee of HUD or ХУД-ийн 10-р хороо) had only achieved a 10% completion rate due to land acquisition issues; and the construction of the other Phase 2 schools was complete. A Phase 3 project implementation agreement was signed on January 11, 2018 and a Phase 3 groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 22, 2018. However, the Covid-19 pandemic led to construction delays. As of 2021, the construction of one of the Phase 3 schools (Arkhangai Province Kindergarten or Архангай аймгийн цэцэрлэг) was completed; and the construction of two additional Phase 3 schools [the 6th committee of SHD (СХД-ийн 6-р хороо) and the 15th Committee of HUD (ХУД-ийн 15-р хороо)] had achieved 90% and 95% completion rates, respectively. The originally anticipated implementation end date of the project (including all three phases) was September 1, 2019.