Announcement of China Borrows One Hundred Ninety-Nine Million Forty Thousand US Dollars for Port Development and Agricultural Research on November 3, 1982

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE // • World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 83/16 Contact: Sundaram Sankaran IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 83/19 ( 202) 477-3962 November 3, 1982 CHINA BORROWS $199.4 MILLION FOR PORT DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH China wilt' modernize and exp,.lnd port facilities and improve higher education and research in agricultural sciences with the help of funds totaling almost $200 million from the World Bank and its affiliate, the International Development Association (IDA). A World Bank loan of $124 million will help finance a $427.4 million project designed to modernize and expand facilities at three major ports Huangpu (Guangzhou), Shanghai, and Tianjin. An IDA credit of SOR 67.8 million ($75.4 million) will support the government's program of strengthening higher education and research in agricultural sciences. The $201.6 million project, the IDA credit supports, is designed to improve the quality and increase the number of agricul_tl!>ra"i' sctence • graduates as well as to provide support for research • The World Bank loan to China is for 20 years, including 5 years of with interest at 11.6% a year. It carries an annual commitment charge of undisbursed balances. The IDA credit is for 50 years, including 10 years grace; it is interest-free, but carries a service charge of 3/4 of 1% per grace, 0.75% on of annum. Port Development China's 15 major ports handled almost 220 million tons of cargo traffic in 1980. The largest port, Shanghai, handled about 40% of this cargo; Huangpu and Tianjin handled about 5% each. Shanghai is also one of the world's largest ports, with a total of 95 berths in 14 terminals. Huangpu is South China's largest port, with two terminals and a total of 12 berths. Tianjin is located 120 kilometers southeast of Beijing, and has 18 berths and a further 11 are under construction. During the last five years, coal traffic through Huangpu and general cargo traffic through the three major ports suitable for containerization have grown rapidly. Further increases are anticipated as agriculture and light industrial production, as well as coal consumption, continue to rise. The existing port facilities are inadequate to cope with the expected increase in tn15fic. The government has therefore approved major investments to modernize and expand facilities at the three major ports. The project being financed by the World Bank will help increase port capacity and reduce the cost of cargo handli.ng • in Huangpu, Shanghai, and Tianjin. It would also help reduce unproductive ship  - 2 - turn-around time by providing additional berths and high productivity cargo handling • equipment. Under the project, more efficient operation of the pot'ts would be promoted through training, Longer te.rm improvements and efficiency would be sought through a study of the potentia~ for developing container transport in the ports hinte tland. Agricultural Edueation and Research China's continued abi U. ty to feed a growing population and to ensure an adequate supply of agricultural raw materials for an expanding industrial sector depends. on increasing agricµltural output. Further expansion of production in the years ahead, however, faces constraints--the scarcity of arable land, major problems of soil and water conservation, and the decreasing marginal return that can be expected from further inputs. of labor. In addition, China's very success in the past in achieving high yields per hectare through increased use of chemical fertilizers, expansion of water contra 1, and development of high-yielding varieties of seeds make the task of raising yields s tH l higher more di.f ficult than in countries where farming is less developed. The requirements are for new breakthroughs in the agricultural sciences and technology and their effective application at the production level. There is at present a shortage of trained agricultural manpower. To redress this imbalance, the project will assi.st i.n improving the quantity and quality of agricultural edncati.on and research, and strengthen planning. The project is part of China's efforts to modernize agriculture. The long-term objective of China is to reach advanced world levels in yields of major agricultural products by • the turn of the century. In support of the government's progr~m of strengthening higher education and research in the agricultural sciences, the project will assist 11 colleges, six existing research institutes, and the new Nati.anal Rice Research Institute. In addition, the government will unde.rtake studies of agricultural manpower and the agricultural research system. The project is scheduled to be completed in 1988. China and the World Bank The People's Republic of China assumed China's representation at the World Bank in May 1980. In the initiai two years of the China-Bank relationship, substantial economic and sector work has been carried out~ In late 1980, a large economic mission, which included sector teams on agriculture, industry, education, population and health, transport, and energy visited China. The mission's report was reviewed with the government and circulated to Bank member governments. This report has been translated into Chinese and the government is distributing it among officials. The Bank has also completed sector work in two areas: first, it helped to develop methods designed to improve project evaluation by the China Investment Bank, a financial intermediary; second, it completed a rural credit study. Today's Rank loan and IDA credit bring the total of Rank and IDA assistance to China to $459.4 million. In June 1981, a $200 million lending operation--$100 million in a Bank loan and $100 million in an IDA credit--in support of higher education in science and engineering was approved. ln June 1982, IDA approved a er-edit of SDR 54 million ($60 million) for an agricultural development project • - 0 - •