Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

China Eximbank provides $19.19 million loan for Mpila Memorial Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#60219)

$19.19M USD

Funder	Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)
Recipient Organization	Government of Republic of Congo
Country	Congo
Start Date	Jun 12, 2014
End Date	Aug 13, 2026
Duration	4,445 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`58721`

Grant Description

China Eximbank provides $19.19 million loan for Mpila Memorial Construction Project On June 19, 2006, China Eximbank and the Republic of Congo signed a $1.6 billion loan framework agreement — also known in the Republic of Congo as the “strategic partnership” (“partenariat stratégique”) — that allowed the Republic of Congo to obtain China Eximbank loans for infrastructure projects through a securitization mechanism: Société Nationales des Pétroles Congolais (SNPC)—the country’s state-owned oil company—agreed to deposit a portion of the cash proceeds from its oil exports into an escrow account that is controlled by China Eximbank.

This framework agreement (captured in Record ID#60219) was ratified on October 26, 2006.

One of the subsidiary loans that was approved through the framework agreement was a $19,191,458.40 loan in 2014 for the Mpila Memorial Construction Project. This subsidiary loan agreement was signed on June 12, 2014.

📋 Loan / Grant Terms

💰 Loan Amountcarried a 14-year maturity and a 0

📅 Maturity14 years

💹 Interest Rate0.25%

Its estimated grace period was 4-years. Its (principal) amount outstanding was $15,961,700 as of December 31, 2019. The project involved the construction of a memorial in the Mpila neighborhood within the capital city of Brazzaville.

It was part of a larger Chinese Government-funded effort to rebuild parts of Brazzaville that were destroyed by a deadly March 2012 blast at a munitions depot in the Mpila neighborhood within the capital city of Brazzaville.

China Jiangsu International Economic Technical Cooperation Corporation was the contractor responsible for implementation. This project had achieved a 100% execution rate as of March 31, 2019.

📋 Staff Comments

The Chinese project title is 姆皮拉纪念馆 or 刚果（布）MPILA纪念馆. The French project title is Chantier Mémorial de l'Histoire or Projet de construction du mémorial de Mpila.
The loan that supported this project is included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020. However. SAIS-CARI does not record the borrowing terms of this loan. AidData relies on the face value of the loan ($19,191,458.40) and the maturity length (14-years) that is recorded by the Republic of Congo’s Public Debt Agency (Caisse Congolaise d’Amortissement or CCA) and Délégation Générale des Grands Travaux (DGGT). According to a 2019 report published by the Republic of Congo’s National Assembly, all loans approved under the June 19, 2006 framework agreement had an interest rate of 0.25% and grace periods between 3 and 5-years. Therefore, since the grace period of the China Eximbank loan for the Mpila Memorial Construction Project is missing, AidData imputes a value (4-years) at the middle of the distribution of this range as an approximation. A China Eximbank source indicates that $410 million was provided for the construction of Mpila Memorial Construction Project, the Mpila Shopping Center Construction Project, and the Brazzaville Commercial Center (Mpila Twin Towers) Construction Project. This monetary value is roughly equivalent to the combined value of the 3 Chinese Eximbank loans that were issued for these projects: a $19.19 million loan for the Mpila Memorial Construction Project (captured in Project#58721), a $62.3 million loan for the Mpila Shopping Center Construction Project (captured in Project#58408), and a $328.1 million loan for the Mpila Twin Towers Construction Project (captured in Project ID#58720). Other Chinese sources refer to the Mpila Memorial Construction Project and Mpila Shopping Center Construction Project together (姆皮拉纪念馆及商业中心) and describe the total cost of these projects as $81.9 million.

📚 Sources & References

Résumé de l'Accord de restructuration de la dette du Congo envers la Chine
Both Houses of the Parliament have ratified a Complementary Agreement on the Restructuring of Congo's debt to China by 1, 479.83 billion FCFA.
Decree 2015-178
驻刚果（布）大使夏煌陪同刚政要考察中刚合作项目
刚大工部及计划部两位部长考察中企项目
Congo : un accord de coopération de 200 millions de yuans signé avec la Chine
进出口银行贷款支持刚果（布）社会经济发展项目
RAPPORT N°23 SUR LE PROJET DE LOI AUTORISANT LA RATIFICATION DE L’ACCORD COMPLEMENTAIRE SUR LA RESTRUCTURATION DE LA DETTE DU CONGO ENVERS LA CHINE
驻刚果（布）大使馆致信感谢中江国际集团支持接访工作, ÉTAT DES LIEUX DE LA DETTE PUBLIQUE EN LA RÉPUBLIQUE DU CONGO
N°23 RAPPORT SUR L'ACCORD COMPLEMENTAIRE SUR LA RESTRUCTURATION DE LA DETTE ENVERS LA CHINE (1) N°23
刚果（布）MPILA纪念馆
Bargaining with Beijing: A Tale of Two Borrowers
Initiative pour la Transparence dans les Industries Extractives Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.

All Grantees

Government of Republic of Congo

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