Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
During Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Serbia in December 2014, a decision was taken to build a Chinese cultural center in Serbia and make it a platform for cultural exchanges between the two countries. Then, in 2017, China Development Bank (CDB) issued a loan to Empiret d.o.o. Beograd (Empiret) -- a subsidiary of Shandong International Economic & Technical Cooperation Group -- for the Belgrade Chinese Cultural Center Construction Project. Sinosure provided a credit insurance policy to support the loan. The purpose of the $53 million project (EUR 45 million) project is to construct a Chinese Cultural Center in Belgrade on Tresnjinog cveta Street — with a business reception area, office space, commercial space, presentation halls, classrooms, and galleries — at the symbolic site of the Chinese Embassy bombing by NATO planes in 1999. The Center will focus on arts, literature, and other areas of cultural engagement. It will also include 19 apartments and 35 rooms intended for accommodating diplomatic delegations, employees and guests. The height of the building was designed to be 32 meters and include 9 floors and 2 underground floors. It was also designed to include an underground garage with 218 parking spaces and 23 outdoor parking spaces. Empiret d.o.o. Beograd (Empiret), a subsidiary of Shandong International Economic & Technical Cooperation Group, is responsible for project implementation. However, on November 24, 2017, Empiret issued a $33 million construction subcontract to Visokogradnja, a subsidiary of Energoprojekt Holding. A formal groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 17, 2016. However, project implementation did not commence until July 20, 2017. The project’s originally expected completion date was February 2019. The main building structure was capped on April 16, 2019 and the project was nearing completion in May 2020. Construction was complete as of 2022, but the building had not yet opened to visitors.
Staff comments
1. The Chinese project title is 塞尔维亚文化中心融资项目 or 塞尔维亚中国文化中心项目 or 贝尔格莱德中国文化中心大厦项目 or 贝尔格莱德中国文化中心大厦 or 塞尔维亚文化中心融资项目 or 的塞尔维亚中国文化中心大厦项目 or 贝尔格莱德中国文化中心大厦. The Serbian project title is Кинески културни центар. 2. The face value of the loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData conservatively assumes that the $53 million project was financed according to a debt-to-equity ratio of 70:30. Therefore, the estimated face value of CDB's loan is $37.1 million. This issue warrants further investigation. 3. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. This issue warrants further investigation.