Completed Development AidData Chinese Aid

Chinese Government provides RMB 50 million loan for March 26 Stadium Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#1080, #73238)

¥50M RMB

Funder	China Ministry of Commerce
Recipient Organization	Government of Mali
Country	Mali
Start Date	Jun 10, 2000
End Date	Jun 15, 2026
Duration	9,501 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`58662`

Grant Description

Chinese Government provides RMB 50 million loan for March 26 Stadium Construction Project On December 4, 2001, the Chinese Government and the Government of Mali signed another RMB 50 million loan for the March 26 Stadium Construction Project.

On June 10, 2000, the Chinese Government and the Government of Mali signed an RMB 50 million loan for the March 26 Stadium Construction Project. This project captures the loan contracted in 2000, and Record ID#73238 captures the loan contracted in 2001.

This project involved the construction of a football stadium located in Bamako called the Stade du 26 Mars (March 26 Stadium). It seats 50,000 people. China Overseas Engineering Group (COVEC) was the contractor responsible for implementation.

Construction began in 1999 and the stadium was inaugurated on December 4, 2001, ahead of the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Chinese Government reportedly covered 1/3 of the total project cost (25 million euros), with the Government of Mali covering the other 2/3.

📋 Staff Comments

The Chinese project title is 新建5万人座体育场 or 建马里326体育场援建. The French project title is Construction du Stade du 26 Mars.Neither of the Chinese Government loans that the Government of Mali contracted in 2000 and 2001 for this project are recorded in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020.Multiple sources refer to this project as being supported by 'aid' or 'financial assistance'. Therefore, AidData codes the transaction as an interest-free loan from MOFCOM for the time being. However, this issue requires further investigation.The Government of Mali also contracted two, RMB 30 million loans for this project in 1999.Project ID#1080 captures the umbrella loan for all Chinese financed soccer stadiums for the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations.

📚 Sources & References

L’AUDIT CITOYEN DE LA DETTE DU MALI
History
Development Aid for Infrastructure Investment in Africa: Malian Relations with China, the European Commission and the World Bank
Les stades de football prévus au Cameroun verront-ils le jour?
公司历程
Stade du 26 Mars and https://www.on-mali.org/joomlaa/ GED/pdf/audit de la dette.pdf, china_data_032010[1].xlsx
Resident situation in the country
MALI-CHINA: Cooperation point President Hu Jintao visits Mali
COVEC-Mali : L'entreprise chinoise qui transforme le visage du Mali
Le stade du 26 Mars 2009
Codebook for Assembling Data on China’ s Development Finance 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.