China Eximbank provides RMB 280 million government concessional loan for Phase 1 of National E-Government Project (Linked to Record ID#64106)

China Eximbank provides RMB 280 million government concessional loan for Phase 1 of National E-Government Project On November 20, 2006, the Chinese Government and Lao Government signed a preferential loan framework agreement for Phase 1 of the National E-Government Project.

Then, in 2007, China Eximbank and the Lao Government signed an RMB 280 million government concessional loan (GCL) agreement for Phase 1 of the National E-Government Project (captured in Record ID#64108). The borrowing terms of the GCL are unknown.

The proceeds of the GCL were to be used by the borrower to finance a commercial (EPC) contract with Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell.

The overall purpose of the National E-Government project was foster collaboration among government institutions to ensure efficient and effective delivery of public services and to enable the government to be more responsive to the needs of citizens and the business community. The project also placed special emphasis on making government services more accessible to citizens in the rural areas.

It sought to establish e-government infrastructure by: (a) constructing an IP backbone with a 2.5 Gbps capacity to connect the national e-government centre to the telecom operators and some major ministries (i.e. the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Public Security); (b) laying a fiber optic link to 50 ministries in Vientiane and ADSL cable connection for 75 other government offices; (c) establishing 10 WiMAX base stations covering 20 square kilometers of Vientiane municipality and connecting them to 250 government offices; (d) laying a fiber optic link to 16 provincial governor’s offices and 16 e-government provincial centers; and (e) establishing WiMAX base stations in 16 provincial capital cities to connect to 10 government offices in each province within the total 160 offices.

The project also involved the acquisition of IT computing equipment for government organizations, including: (a) National E-Government Centre with three computer training laboratories (with 30 PCs per lab), a network operation centre and a national data centre; (b) an e-Government Provincial Centre in each of the 16 provinces to house a computer training room (with 10 PCs), an Internet room (10 PCs), a network room (for WiMAX) and some public service rooms; (c) IT facilities for each of the 126 ministry offices in Vientiane, including one server, 10 PCs, a teleconference room and a local area network connected to the national e- government infrastructure; and (d) IT facilities for the district and provincial department offices (200 offices) consisting of three PCs and one printer connected via a LAN and connected to the national e-government infrastructure.

The project was to be implemented in 3 phases over 5-years. Phase 1 was originally scheduled to take place between November 2007 to November 2009. Phase 2 and 3 were scheduled to take place in subsequent years. Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. Phase 1 was nearing completion in April 2009.

However, a key component of Phase 1 — that involved the construction of an office building — was not completed until August 24, 2010. Although Phase 1 was ultimately completed, it precise implementation end date is unknown.

On September 18, 2008, the Chinese Government and Lao Government signed an RMB 546 million preferential loan framework agreement for Phase 2 of the National E-Government Project (captured in Record ID#64106). However, it is unclear if and when an actual loan agreement for Phase 2 was finalized. This issue merits further investigation.