ICBC provides CFA 46.6 billion loan for Korhogo Stadium Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#60790 and Record ID#92251)

Project narrative

On August 31, 2018, ICBC and the Government of Cote d'Ivoire signed a CFA 46,600,243,541.99 loan agreement for the Korhogo Stadium Construction Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. However, it is known that the borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the loan to finance a commercial contract between the Government of Cote d'Ivoire and China National Building Material Group Co., Ltd. (CNBM), which was signed in March 2018. According to the Government of Côte d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), the CFA 46,600,243,541.99 loan had achieved a 95% disbursement rate (CFA 44,309,365,638.48 out of CFA 46,600,243,541.99) as of December 31, 2022. ICBC made 7 disbursements between 2019 and 2022: a CFA 4,082,738,500 disbursement on December 31, 2019, a CFA 7,503,089,128 disbursement on January 31, 2020, a CFA 2,043,067,044 disbursement on February 28, 2020, a CFA 12,405,209,200.37 disbursement on June 30, 2021, a CFA 10,221,068,705 disbursement as of July 31, 2022, a CFA 4,613,413,768 disbursement as of July 31, 2022, a CFA 4,613,413,768 disbursement as of September 30, 2022, and a CFA 3,440,779,293.11 disbursement as of December 31, 2022. According to the Government of Côte d'Ivoire’s AMP, a second loan — or bond issue contract (‘Contrat d'émission d'obligation Petrus’) — worth CFA 15,312,691,693.94 was issued by ICBC London to the Government of Cote d’Ivoire on December 13, 2018 in support of the San Pédro Stadium Construction Project and the Korhogo Stadium Construction Project. As of December 31, 2022, this loan (captured via Record ID#92251) had not disbursed. The purpose of the Korhogo Stadium Construction Project was to construct a 20,000-seat stadium in the town of Korhogo (with a parking lot to accommodate 2,000 vehicles and water, sanitation, electricity, and fiber optic infrastructure), construct a 3-star hotel with 50 beds, construct 32 (4x8) villas (with 5 rooms each) to support 4 teams, and either construct or rehabilitate training grounds for athletes and local high schools (including the Dominique Ouattara high school stadium and the Houphouetboigny high school stadium). Upon completion, the 20,000-seat stadium (exact coordinates: 9.409722, -5.628889) was expected to host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. China National Building Material Co., Ltd. (CNBM) was the general EPC contractor responsible for project implementation. However, Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) was also involved (most likely as a subcontractor). Construction began on or around May 19, 2019. However, the project faced multiple problems and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Construction was at a standstill for much of 2020. It finally resumed in the last quarter of 2020. Project implementation also suffered from insufficient manpower (only 250 workers). 400 additional workers from China did not arrive until November 2020. Project implementation delays also resulted from the Government of Cote d'Ivoire not paying CNBM in a timely manner (upon receipt of invoices). The project was originally scheduled to reach completion by May 13, 2021. However, as of April 2022, the project had only achieved a 70% completion rate. The project ultimately reached completion in September 2023 and the facility was named the 'Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium.'