China gives Papua New Guinea USD 3.47 million to repair Kumul Submarine Cable (Linked to Record ID#61213)

On July 6, 2016 China Eximbank provided Papua New Guinea a USD 229,198,215.15 (PGK 726,460,000) preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement for the Kumul Submarine Cable Project (see Record ID#61213).

Phase A (System 2) commenced in November 2018 with the arrival of the cable-laying ship carrying 6,000 km of fiber optic cable in Port Moresby and it was successfully completed on February 19, 2020.

Phase B (System 1) started immediately thereafter in late February 2020, linking Vanimo from Jayapura, and linking Wewak, Lorengau, Kimbe, Kokopo, and Kavieng with the cable network, and eventually landing in Kieta on May 18, 2020.

Phase C (System 3) was completed with the landing of the cable in Daru, Western Province on June 2, 2020, marking the completion of the laying of the 5,457 km of domestic cable. The project as a whole was ultimately completed ahead of schedule on or around August 21, 2020. On September 11, 2022, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Papua New Guinea.

The earthquake damaged the Kumul Submarine Cable. On March 7, 2023, China donated USD 3.47 million (PGK 13 million) to Papua New Guinea for repairs. Papua New Guinea's Minister for State Enterprise William Duma received the donation in Port Mosby. The total cost to repair the cable is USD 5.5 million (PGK 17 million).

According to a media source, USD 977,410 (about K3.4 million) was used for cable spares while USD 2.5 million (about K8.7 million) was for cable vessel cost (Source ID #195681). The damage to the cable affected telecommunication and internet services to seventy percent of the country.