[China-Venezuela Joint Fund] CDB provides loan of USD 200 million for Delta Amacuro Agriculture Development Project (linked to Project ID#37829, 37528, 58677)

The Delta Amacuro Agriculture Development Project (Spanish: Proyecto Integral de Desarrollo Agrario Delta Orinoco, Chinese: 委内瑞拉奥里诺科三角洲农业综合发展项目) is a USD 200 million project funded by Tranche B of the China-Venezuela Joint Fund (see project ID#37528). The project began in June of 2010 and a completion ceremony was held on February 1, 2019. The primary outside contractor was CAMCE. Other implementing agencies included a subsidiary of PDVSA called PDVSA Agrícola, the Ministry of People's Power for Agriculture and Land, and INDER. The project consisted of the building of 20 rice storage silos capable of holding 2,000 tons each, 90.5km of irrigation canals, 36km of roads, a 10 MW power station, 27km of transmission lines, an 80,000-chicken farm, a 270 square meter agricultural laboratory, and one water pump station. CAMCE also supplied 160 sets of agricultural equipment. The project also built a rice packing plant, a rice seed processing plant, and two bridges connecting the Coguina, Manamito and Guara islands. On January 22, 2019, INDER signed the final acceptance letter and sent it to CAMCE. The opening ceremony was held on February 1, 2019. A May 2019 Reuters Special Investigation titled "How a Chinese venture in Venezuela made millions while locals grew hungry" covered this project in detail. It asserted that CAMCE did not complete the work as specified, the rice packaging plants were never used, locally grown rice has failed to materialize, and the canals were never built. It also discusses multiple corruption allegations involved in this project and other CAMCE agriculture projects in Venezuela, which came to a head in a 2019 Andorran lawsuit (see project ID#91283, 91324, 91257, 91086, and 91235 for other CAMCE projects involved in this lawsuit). The rice processing plant has operated below its capacity since it opened. In 2020, it produced 5,000 tons, a quarter of the original project goal.

Additional details

1. It was previously assumed that all the agricultural projects captured by project iD#37829 were funded by the long-term facility (see project ID#37804, 37808). However, according to "Planta Procesadora de Arroz contribuirá con el desarrollo agroalimentario en Delta Amacuro", this project was funded by the Chinese loan announced in the Official Gazette Number 39.019. This loan is tranche B of the joint fund (see project ID#37528) (see "Gaceta Official Numero 39.019").

Number of official sources

7

Number of total sources

10