Active Development AidData Chinese Aid

Chinese Government provides RMB 86 million interest-free loan for Friendship Bridge Construction Project

¥86M RMB

Funder	China Ministry of Commerce
Recipient Organization	Ministry of Transport of Syria
Country	Syrian Arab Republic
Start Date	Jan 09, 2008
End Date	Apr 08, 2032
Duration	8,856 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`65052`

Grant Description

Chinese Government provides RMB 86 million interest-free loan for Friendship Bridge Construction Project On January 9, 2008, the Chinese Government and the Government of Syria’s Ministry of Transport signed an exchange of letters, which committed an interest-free loan for the Friendship Bridge Construction Project.

According to a dataset of foreign-financed projects that the Syrian Planning Commission (SPC) provided to UNDP Syria in May 2011, the Chinese Government provided an RMB 86 million ($12,659,200) interest-free loan to the Government of Syria’s Ministry of Transport for the Friendship Bridge Construction Project.

The purpose of the project was to build a “friendship bridge” (友谊桥) across the Euphrates River in the Deir ez-Zur province. It was originally anticipated that the project would be implemented on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis.

On August 10, 2007 and August 11, 2007, at the invitation of the Director of the Syrian Planning Commission (SPC), the Chinese Ambassador to Syria visited the project site.

RMB 180,000 of the loan proceeds were allocated for the implementation of a feasibility study for the Friendship Bridge Construction Project. However, it does not appear that this project ever entered implementation.

📋 Staff Comments

This project is also known as the Friendship Bridge Across the Euphrates Project. The Chinese project title is 友谊桥 or 中叙友谊桥 or or 德尔祖尔友谊桥项目 or 中国援建的中叙友谊桥项目. The Arabic project title is مشروع جسر الصداقة or مشروع جسر الصداقة على نهر الفرات. Some sources identify the face value of the loan as RMB 85,900,000 rather than RMB 86,000,000. Since loan terms for the interest-free loan are unavailable, AidData has set maturity period to 20-years by default and grace period to 10-years by default per China's Foreign Assistance White Paper (http://www.cidca.gov.cn/2018-08/06/c_129925064_3.htm) which states that the maturity period of interest-free loans is 20-years, with a drawdown period of 5-years, grace period of 5-years, and repayment over 10-years. AidData treats the drawdown period as providing 5-years of additional grace.

📚 Sources & References

Conditionality in Chinese bilateral lending
中国驻叙利亚大使李华新与叙方就中国援叙“友谊桥”项目换文
中国驻叙利亚大使李华新与叙方就中国援叙“友谊桥”项目换文
中国驻叙利亚大使李华新应邀赴叙利亚东北部德尔祖尔省考察
叙国家计划署署长和运输部长约见李华新大使谈两国经贸合作, رسائل متبادلة بين سورية والصين حول دراسة مشروع جسر الصداقة, 228237_Data_Nader_Projects v1, 10 ملايين دولار لتنفيذ جسر الصداقة بدير الزور
中国政府同叙利亚签署德尔祖尔友谊桥项目, مصفاة نفط مشتركة و 20 مليون يوان منحة صينية لسورية, العطري يدشن بدء تشييد مصنع أسمنت البادية https://www.alraimedia.com/article/118094/اقتصاد/العطري-يدشن-بدء-تشييد-مصنع-أسمنت-البادية, رسائل متبادلة بين سورية والصين حول دراسة مشروع جسر الصداقة
中国驻叙利亚大使李华新应邀赴叙利亚东北部德尔祖尔省考察, الرداوي يهدي أبناء منطقته الشرقية أول مشروع جسر صيني على نهر الفرات يربط الجزيرة السورية بأختها الشامية, بعد سحب المشروع من الشركة الوطنية .. جسر الصداقة في عهدة الصينيين, دليل شركاء التعاون الدولي
Chinese Ambassador to Syria Li Huaxin exchanged letters with the Syrian side on the China-aided 'Friendship Bridge' project in Syria 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.