China - Second Deep-Sea Fisheries Project : Loan 0498 - Press Release - Conformed

WORLD BANK 1818 H STREET. N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE. EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 67/30 Subject: $14.4 million loan to Republic June 14, 1967 of China for fishing vessels The World Bank has approved a loan equivalent to $14.4 million to the Republic of China. The loan will provide the foreign exchange needed to add 20 longliner tuna vessels and four stern trawlers to the country's deep-sea fishing fleet. Al- most all the fish catch from the new vessels will be sold overseas, earning the equivalent of $3 million a year and more than doubling Taiwan's annual earnings of foreign exchange from the fishing industry. Twenty-four financial institutions in the United States have agreed to parti- cipate in the loan for a total amount of $2,270,000, representing the first five maturities and part of the sixth maturity which fall due between August 1, 1970 and February 1, 1973. (See list of participating banks attached.) The fishing industry of Taiwan comprises deep sea, inshore and coastal fish- eries and fish culture. Development of the industry has been accelerated under successive four-year expansion plans begun in 1953. As a result it has become increasingly important to the economy not only as a means of foreign exchange earnings, but also as a source of employment and domestic food supply. Over 100,000 households consisting of 636,000 people depend on the fishing industry for a living. By the end of 1965 the fishing fleet had grown to 8,167 powered vessels of a gross tonnage of 118,000 tons, and fish production had increased to 382,000 tons, of which 5,700 tons valued at the equivalent of $2.7 million were exported. A Bank loan of $7.8 million in 1963 assisted in this development by financing most of the cost of 16 modern deep-sea tuna longliner vessels. Taiwan's Fourth Fisheries Development Plan (1965-68) is intended to increase fisheries production on an average of 13,000 tons annually so that it will reach -2- 427,000 tons by 1968. Deep-sea fisheries are expected to provide more than half the projected increase and will require an expansion of the deep-sea fishing fleet by 14,000 tons. The tuna longliners and stern trawlers, being procured with the assistance of the Bank loan announced today, will have a combined tonnage of 11,000 tons, providing most of the planned increase in this category. The tuna longliners will be 250-ton vessels and the stern trawlers, 1,500-ton. All the vessels will be equipped with the latest navigational and fish detection aids, and will operate from overseas bases where they will trans-ship their catch, refuel and take on supplies, returning to their home base in Taiwan at intervals for overhaul. While it is planned that the longliners will operate initially in the Indian Ocean and the trawlers in the Las Palmas trawler grounds off the north- -.est coast of Africa, the vessels will be capable of year-round operation wherever circumstances dictate. Two experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) assisted in the appraisal of the project under the Bank/FAO Cooperative Program. The Government of the Republic of China will relend the proceeds of the World Bank loan to fishing companies selected for their financial strength, technical ex- perience and managerial ability. The Land Bank of Taiwan will administer the loan on behalf of the Government. The Taiwan Fisheries Bureau, an agency of the Taiwan Provincial Government, will supervise all technical aspects of the project. The Central Trust of China, the Government's procurement agency, will issue tenders for international competitive bidding and award contracts for construction of the vessels in consultation with the Land Bank and the Fisheries Bureau. Total investment in the project is estimated at the equivalent of $17.7 mil- lion. The Bank loan will cover the foreign exchange requirements and the remaining costs will be met by the benefic4.ary fishing companies. The loan will be for a term of 15 years and bear interest at the rate of 6% pcr annum; amortization will begin in August 1970. The companies will repay their loans to the Land Bank on a schedule similar to that of the World Bank loan to the Government. Participants in Bank loan: The Bank of New York, National Bank of North America, New York New York Seattle First National Bank, American National Bank and Seattle Trust Co. of Chicago, Chicago The Chase Manhattan Bank N.A., New York Bank of America National Trust & Savings Association, Provident National Bank, San Francisco Philadelphia The Bank of California National Girard Trust Bank, Association, Philadelphia San Francisco Chemical Bank New York Trust Company, Crocker-Citizens National Bank, New York San Francisco Central National Bank of Cleveland, National Bank of Commerce of Seattle, Cleveland Seattle Wells Fargo Bank, Marine Midland Trust Company . San Francisco of Western New York, Buffalo The First National Bank of Chicago, Chicago Brown Brothers, Harriman & Co., New York First National City Bank, New York The Citizens & Southern National Bank, Atlanta Marine Midland Grace Trust Company, New York Detroit Bank & Trust Company, Detroit The Northern Trust Company, Chicago The First Pennsylvania Banking & Trust Company, Philadelphia First Western Bank & Trust Company, Los Angeles