China Eximbank provides $123.4 million preferential buyer’s credit for Phase 2 of Dedicated Security Information System Project (Linked to Record ID#1862)

China Eximbank provides $123.4 million preferential buyer’s credit for Phase 2 of Dedicated Security Information System Project On October 28, 2013, the Government of Ghana signed a $123,409,273.10 preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK PBC NO. (2013) 06 TOTAL NO. (25)] with China Eximbank for Phase 2 of Dedicated Security Information System Project.

The Ghanaian Parliament ratified the PBC agreement on November 12, 2013.

The PBC proceeds were to be used by the borrower to partially finance a $129,904,498.00 commercial (supply) contract, which was signed by the Government of the Republic of Ghana’s National Security Council and ZTE Corporation on October 28, 2011 and subsequently amended by the Republic of Ghana’s Ministry of Communications and ZTE Corporation on October 15, 2013.

According to the Government of Ghana’s Development Cooperation Management Information System (Gh-DCMIS), the $123,409,273.10 loan (PBC) achieved a 100% disbursement rate, with China Eximbank making 5 loan disbursements (worth $123,409,273.10) between 2014 and 2017: a $32,476,124.50 disbursement on December 31, 2014, a $31,605,686.71 disbursement on June 30, 2015, a $10,439,766.75 disbursement on June 30, 2016, a $35,897,245.34 disbursement on June 30, 2017, and a $12,990,449.80 disbursement on February 28, 2017.

The loan’s (principal) amount outstanding was GHS 637,210,000 ($113,787,500) as of December 31, 2020 and GHS 617,000,000 ($118,653,846) as of December 31, 2021.

The purpose of the Dedicated Security Information System Project was to strengthen the country's security and emergency aid services — including Immigration, Prisons, Fire Service, Customs, Ghana Armed Forces, Police Service, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of National Security — through the establishment of a national security information system.

Phase 1 covered the main cities, towns, border entries and exits, and main traffic arteries in six regions of southern Ghana, including Greater Accra Region, Ashanti Region, Central Region, Eastern Region, Volta Region and Western Region. It was financed through a $30 million China Eximbank loan that was approved in 2007 (captured via Record ID#1862).

With support from ZTE, Phase 2 extended the national security information system, also referred to as the Global Open Trunking Architecture (GOTA), to the country’s Upper East Region, Upper West Region, Brong Ahafo Region, and Northern Region.

The objective for Phase 2 entailed reaching capacity of 200,000 total lines and the addition of 270 base transceiver stations (BTS), providing services to 3,000,000 users. Huawei was also involved in the implementation of Phase 2.

Specifically, it helped the Government of Ghana to equip a Ghana Police Command Centre (or Ghana National Security Emergency Command Center), with CCTV cameras and digital (eLTE 4) trunking network to respond more expeditiously to issues such as robbery, vehicular accidents, murder, and fire emergencies across all regions of the country.

To this end, Huawei installed a 1.4 GHz eLTE network and 253 eLTE base stations to cover major cities and roads — the first system of its kind outside of China.

Huawei also provided handheld terminals, vehicle-mounted stations, Emergency Communications Vehicles (ECVs), and fixed-access terminals and accessories to meet the requirements of both fixed and mobile situations.

Today, the Ghana public security department reports emergencies through trunking handsets that can send on-site videos to the command center in real time.

Then, the command center immediately invokes the wired and wireless cameras on-site and dispatches police cars equipped with eLTE stations for support. ECVs are used by the Ghana government guard.

When the president travels, personnel in the mobile emergency command network watch over the presidential motorcade and communicate with the command center in real time via satellite transmission.

Huawei also provided a unified solution that integrates eLTE, emergency communications centers, intelligent video surveillance, and telepresence video conferencing.

As such, the Ghana Police Station can now establish voice and video communication with the Presidential Palace, and medical, fire fighting, and other government departments for faster and better-coordinated responses.

The Ghana Police Command Centre (or Ghana National Security Emergency Command Center) was officially inaugurated on December 15, 2017. However, the Gh-DCMIS identifies the official project completion date as June 30, 2017.

The originally expected project implementation start and end dates were October 28, 2013 and December 30, 2016, respectively.

There are some indications that the China Eximbank loan for Phase 2 of the Dedicated Security Information System Project may have financially underperformed vis-a-vis the original expectations of the lender.

According to the World Bank’s International Development Statistics, the Government of Ghana had accumulated principal and interest arrears to one or more official sector Chinese creditors worth $908,337,346.70) in 2020 ($763,228,526.60 in principal arrears and $145,108,820.10 in interest arrears).

Then, on December 19, 2022, the Government of Ghana announced a sovereign default, suspending debt service on its Eurobonds, its commercial loans, and most of its bilateral loans.