Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In 2018, a syndicate of Chinese banks (including the Hunan Branch of ICBC) signed an EUR 75 million loan agreement with Citic Dicastal Africa — a special purpose vehicle and wholly-owned subsidiary of Citic Dicastal Co., Ltd — for Phase 1 of the Aluminum Wheel Production Facility Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. The purpose of the project was to construct an aluminum wheel production facility in the Atlantic Free Zone within Kenitra. Citic Dicastal Co., Ltd was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. Phase 1 commenced on September 10, 2018. The first aluminum alloy wheel was produced on May 25, 2019. The facility was officially commissioned on June 26, 2019.
Staff comments
1. This project is also known as the Twin Aluminium Wheel Plants Project and CITIC Dicastal’s Three-Million-Unit Capacity Plant (Phase One) Project. The Chinese project title is 中国中信戴卡摩洛哥铝车轮生产基 or 中信戴卡摩洛哥铝车轮生产基地一期在 or 戴卡摩洛哥轻量化轮毂项目. 2. For the time being, AidData assumes that all members of the loan syndicate are Chinese state-owned banks (see https://www.dropbox.com/s/mnhhft8u9eamzwr/Boya%20Shen%20_%20People%20_%20Mayer%20Brown.pdf?dl=0). This issue warrants further investigation. 3. The project’s second phase commenced on November 25, 2019 and concluded on December 26, 2020. The project’s third phase commenced in February 2022. It is unclear how Phase 2 and Phase 3 were financed. This issue merits additional investigation