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Overview

Bank of China provides $150 million loan for Forest City Road Infrastructure Project

Commitments (Constant USD, 2023)$153,832,977
Commitment Year•2014Country of Activity•MalaysiaDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•MalaysiaSector•Transport And StorageFlow Type•Loan

Status

Project lifecycle

Implementation

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Jan 1, 2014

Geospatial footprint

Map overview

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Forest City is an integrated residential development and private town located in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia. It is located in the southwestern part of Johor Bahru District, the second largest district in Malaysia by population. More detailed locational information can be found at https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/13939153 and https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/17019611

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Ultimate beneficial owners

At least 25% host country ownershipAt least 25% Chinese ownership

Funding agencies

State-owned Commercial Banks

  • Bank of China (BOC)

Receiving agencies

Joint Venture/Special Purpose Vehicles

  • Country Gardens Pacific View Sdn. Bhd (CGPV)

Loan description

Bank of China provides $150 million loan for Forest City Road Infrastructure Project

Interest type•Unknown

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

In 2014, Bank of China issued a $150 million loan to Country Gardens Pacific View Sdn. Bhd (CGPV) -- a special purpose vehicle and joint venture of Country Garden Holdings Company Limited (CG) [60% equity stake] and Esplanade Danga 88 Sdn. Bhd. [40% equity stake] -- for the Forest City Road Infrastructure Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. Forest City is an integrated residential development and private town located in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia. It is located in the southwestern part of Johor Bahru District, the second largest district in Malaysia by population. Reclamation work began on January 1, 2014. Causeway construction began shortly thereafter.

Staff comments

1. The Chinese project title is 森林城市项目. 2. Esplanade Danga 88 Sdn. Bhd is owned by state agency Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor and the state monarch Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. 3. Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn. Bhd. (KPRJ) was incorporated on November 8, 1995 as a private limited company wholly owned by the State Government of Johor. 4. Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar was the fifth Sultan of modern Johor since ascending to the throne following the death of his father, Sultan Iskandar, in 2010. He was crowned the King of Malaysia on January 31, 2024. 5. Country Garden Holdings Company Limited is a real estate development company that operates in China, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands. The company was founded in 1992 by Kwok Keung Yeung and is headquartered in Foshan, Guangdong, China. Country Garden is one of the largest urban residential property developers in China by sales volume. 6. In August 2023, Country Garden Holdings Company Limited joined the ranks of once-strong Chinese property developers in deferring millions of dollars in debt payments. This was followed in October 2023 by cross defaults in up to $11 billion of offshore bonds, raising fears that overseas projects and assets such as Forest City would be sold or seized by creditors during the debt restructuring. 7. The precise commitment year of the Bank of China loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes that it corresponds to the first year of project implementation (2014). This issue warrants further investigation.