Chinese-Built Housing Development in Angola a ‘Ghost Town’
Baku, July 9 (AZERTAC). It was supposed to be a state-of-the-art city for 500,000 - but eerie footage shows how a Chinese-built urbanisation is at risk of becoming Africa's first 'ghost town'.
Constructed on the outskirts of Angola's capital city Luanda, Nova Cidade de Kilamba has 750 eight-storey blocks of flats, a dozen schools and more than 100 shop units.
But, crucially, it has no residents, and many of the nearby slum-dwellers cannot afford the £75,000 price-tag to move in.
This has sparked fears the £2.2billion project, a fraction of the cash China has poured into Africa in recent years, could lay abandoned for years to come.
It has also highlighted the increasing 'colonisation' of Africa by China, seen to be wanting the resource-rich continent as a 'satellite state', in recent years.
It is said to be reminiscent of the West's imperial push in the 18th and 19th centuries, with critics pointing to trade deals with more than 40 countries.
They also flag up the provision of billions each year in loans to states on the continent, which extends China's political as well as its economic influence.
It is seeing local black workers either paid a pittance or pushed out completely in favour of Chinese labourers. And African shops are now flooded with cheap Chinese products.
It seems it's a question state-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation, which built the 12,355 acres development in three years in exchange for oil, has not asked.
And it now means the city is at risk of turning into the European ghost towns seen across Ireland and Spain.
Built during the property boom, they were meant for people who never move in - leaving those who did with a worthless property they cannot sell.
Kilamba is the largest of several 'satellite cities' being built by Chinese firms in Angola, and believed to be one of the biggest new-build projects in Africa.
Real estate adverts show its citizens enjoying a stylish lifestyle away from the dust of the capital's slums. But the promotional material is misleading, as almost 12 months since the first batch of 2,800 flats went on sale, only 220 have been sold.
Hardly anyone has moved in, there are few shops and the only place to buy food is a supermarket at one entrance. A handful of Chinese labourers, who live in containers next to the site, seem to be the only people walking the deserted streets.
But despite the perception that flat prices were too high, real estate agency Delta Imobiliaria, in charge of selling the flats, said the real problem was in accessing bank credit.
Paulo Cascao, general manager, told the BBC: 'The prices are correct for the quality of the apartments and for all the conditions that the city can offer.
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