Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

China Eximbank provides $53 million loan for Ollombo Airport Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#60219)

$53M USD

Funder	Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)
Recipient Organization	Government of Republic of Congo
Country	Congo
Start Date	Jun 19, 2006
End Date	Jul 13, 2030
Duration	8,790 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`59241`

Grant Description

China Eximbank provides $53 million loan for Ollombo Airport 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 $53 million loan in 2006 for the Ollombo Airport Construction Project.

📋 Loan / Grant Terms

💰 Loan Amountare as follows: 0

📅 Maturity16.5 years

⏳ Grace Period4 years

💹 Interest Rate0.25%

As of 2014, USD 53 million had been disbursed. Its (principal) amount outstanding was $3,118.155 as of December 31, 2019.

This project involved the construction of Ollombo International Airport, which is located 9 km (5.6 mi) southwest of Oyo, near the village of Ollombo, and 450 km north of Brazzaville. More specifically, the project involved the construction of terminals, a tower, and power control center.

China Jiangsu International Economic Technical Cooperation Corporation was the contractor responsible for project implementation. A project commencement ceremony took place on August 12, 2007. However, construction did not begin until October 2008 and ended on March 13, 2013.

China Jiangsu International also carried out works on the Ollombo Airport Garage, between November 2013 and August 2014, but it is unclear if these works were funded with the proceeds from the same loan.

📋 Staff Comments

This project is also known as the Oyo Ollombo Airport Construction Project. The Chinese project title is 奥龙博机场项目 or 奥龙博机场 or 江苏国际Ollombo机场 or 刚果(布）ollombo机场项目. The French project title is La construction des installations terminales de l’aéroport d’Ollombo or Aéroport International Denis SASSOU-N’GUESSO d’Ollombo.
The loan that supported this project is not included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020. Nor is it included in the the Chinese Overseas Development Finance Dataset published by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center in December 2020. However, the Congolese authorities disclosed the receipt of this loan to the World Bank, which it in turn reported in a September 2014 Republic of Congo Economic Update publication.
According to a 2019 report published by the Republic of Congo’s National Assembly, all loans approved under the framework agreement had an interest rate of 0.25%, maturities between 13-years and 20-years, and grace periods between 3 and 5-years. Therefore, since the maturity of the China Eximbank loan for the Ollombo Airport Construction Project is missing, AidData imputes a value (16.5-years) at the middle of the distribution of this maturity range as an approximation. Likewise, since the grace period of the loan is missing, AidData imputes a value (4-years) at the middle of the distribution of this range as an approximation.

📚 Sources & References

EXIMBANK-CHINA
China's Bilateral Relations with Its Principal Oil Suppliers
驻刚果（布）大使李树立赴刚北方考察
Decree 2015-178
中国－刚果（布）一揽子合作项目成功举行
REPUBLIC OF CONGO ECONOMIC UPDATE
刚果(布）ollombo机场项目
Ollombo International Airport(Congo republic）
中、刚（布）互利合作
Reflet_0040, jo_n°11_2013_3
Aéroport Oyo-Ollombo
中国江苏国际刚果公司
China's Overseas Development Finance
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.