My note: Is there something the Chinese know what both Africans and the West don’t know? Ghost cities in the middle of nowhere….very strange! Means of preserving wealth? A long term investment in resource rich Africa? Or they’ve created invisible Chinese beings? Some say it is a perfect way to claim the land for themselvs. And others have said, Africans allow such deals knowing that they eventually outsmart those who entered into Africa with some sinister intention. Anyways, let’s hope the Chinese, unlike the West, would only like to be blessed by blessing Africa
State-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) has built a town in Angola. And it’s fairly empty,” writes Business Insider’s Mamta Badkar.
“Just outside Angola’s capital city of Luanda is Nova Cidade de Kilamba a residential development of 750 eight-story apartment buildings, a dozen schools, and more than 100 retail units,” the report adds.
The development cost $3.5 billion and was supposed to house approximately 500,000 people, according to the BBC.
“Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos has touted the ‘Kilamba social housing project’ as an example of his social policy, and he has brought international policymakers including Chinese vice-president Xi Jingping to the site,” the BI report adds.
Guess how much apartments in the much-touted complex cost: while the BBC claims that it’s somewhere between $120,000 and $200,000, other evidence claims that a 3-bedroom apartment can run as much as $250,000.
Keep in mind this is Angola. Considering that the country’s GDP per capita in 2011 was $5,144, according to World Bank data cited by Badkar, a $250,000 apartment sounds, um, a wee bit expensive.
“Despite efforts by the government to portray Kilamba as a thriving community through promotional videos, only 220 of the 2,800 apartments have been sold in the first year and the commercial space and schools remain empty,” Construction Digital reports. Shocker.
So why is this Angola development mostly empty?
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