CRSG provides $165 supplier credit for 62 km Wellington-Masiaka PPP Toll Highway Project

On March 3, 2016, China Railway Seventh Group (a subsidiary of China Railway Engineering Corporation) provided a $165 million supplier credit to a project company (known as the Wellington-Masiaka Toll Road PPP) for the 67 km Wellington-Masiaka Toll Highway Project. This loan reportedly has a 27 maturity and a 4 year grace period. It will be repaid by charging motorists using the Wellington-Masiaka motorway at three toll stations (Jui, Mile 38, and Masiaka). The 62 km Wellington-Masiaka Toll Highway Project involves the upgrading of a 62 km road from Wellington (Yonibana) to Masiaka to a four-lane dual carriageway. It is being undertaken as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the Government of Sierra Leone and the Chinese Railway Seventh Group under a 25 year build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) agreement (extended to 27 years later in 2017). The project officially commenced on April 25, 2016. On June 4, 2020 members of the Ministry of Works and Public Assets (MWPA) and Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) toured the Wellington-Masiaka Road Construction site. They noted COVID-19 as a major hinderance to the projects progression, as the project would have been completed in April 2020. As of June 4, 2020, the project is 70% completed. After completing the first phase of the construction of the project during the second quarter of 2017, China Railway Seventh Group started trial operations in August 2017. It also began collecting tolls in 2017. Then, in 2018, the Sierra Leone Road Transport Authority announced a technical and financial audit into the project and Parliament referred the report to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to take action. In 2018, the Chinese government exempted all the interest-free loans borrowed by the Sierra Leonean government and offered to suspend 2020 debt repayments.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the 67 km Masiaka-Yonibana Highway Project. The Chinese project title is 弗里敦至马塞亚卡收费高速路项目 or 弗-马高速公路项目 or 弗里敦至马塞亚卡收费高速路项目 or 塞拉利昂弗里敦东区市政道路改造升级项目.

Number of official sources

8

Number of total sources

22