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Outside Chaotic Luanda, A New City Rises
Outside Chaotic Luanda, A New City Rises
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6/18/2011 2:11 PM
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The International Monetary Fund stepped in with a $1.4-billion loan and Angola tightened its belt. Oil prices went back up and the IMF said in February that about half of Angola's arrears have been cleared. So the government is back to trumpeting its social developments, especially with elections due next year. Kilamba Kiaxi is one of seven "new cities" being built around the country. The others are smaller, with a collective total of about 45 000 homes being built, mostly around Luanda. Strategically, housing complexes are also being built in the restive provinces of Cabinda and Lunda Norte, where residents are clamouring for a greater share of the local oil and diamond wealth -- Angola's main sources of income. Another 100 000 homes are being built under a separate real estate development scheme, according to engineers at Kilamba Kiaxi. That's still far short of the one million mark, and glaring problems remain: there's little transport to get from the homes in the new city to the jobs in the old one. Government has yet to announce how the apartments will be priced or how home loans will be awarded. And many Angolans are suspicious of Chinese construction after a hospital built by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company (Covec) had to be evacuated last year because of deep cracks in the paediatric ward. But the construction here shows the extent of Angola's ambition. "Even in China, I didn't see such a big, large-scale project," said Wu Zhixin, chief engineer for CITIC, the contractor on Kilamba Kiaxi. "In China, 500 000 square metres would be a big project. This one is 3.3-million square metres." - AFP Source: Mail & Guardian Online Web Address: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-06-14-outside-chaotic-luanda-a-new-city-rises
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6/18/2011 2:11 PM