EcoLur - Forum NGO on ADB, BBC
A new town, Kilamba, has been built 30 km far away from Angola’s capital, Luanda. The statement circulated via Forum NGO on ADB (with a link to BBC information) says, the town has been constructed in the frames of investment project of China government. Kilamba occupies 5000 ha, where 750 eight-storey-high residential buildings, dozens of schools and more than 100 shopping malls have been constructed. The town, worth 3.5 billion USD, is designed for half a million people, who, nevertheless, will hardly appear there. “The commercial shot by local government shows smiling families, who enjoy new life style far from dust and unrests in central Luanda, where millions of people live in slums. But the commercial show only actors, despite glossy illusion, only 220 apartments out of first 2800 were sold in the town within a year. It looks like the reason for such unpopularity of the project is its cost for target customers – local residents. Apartment here cost from 120,000 to 200,000 USD, while these prices are affordable only two thirds of Angola residents, who live here for less than 2 dollars a day. Local banks offer escape mortgage on crushing terms, and even well-paid white-collar workers can’t agree on such terms. At present Angola authorities are thinking of farming out part of apartments in Kilamba on privileged long-term lease, nevertheless, still few believe in the reality of this project. Kilamba is built on Chinese loan in exchange for access to Angola petroleum. If the local authorities can’t sell out houses, investments turn out to be spent in vain,” the statement says.
If not to mention the name of the country, it can be considered that the statement says about Armenia – it’s not clear what loans are spent on and how natural resources go by the state budget such as gold, copper, molybdenum, rhenium, zinc, iron, titanium etc.
July 05, 2012 at 20:35