ICBC pledges $500 million loan for Duran Housing Construction Project

In 2014, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China agreed (at least in principle) to extend a loan worth $500 million for the Duran Housing Construction Project. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. The Duran Farm Housing Project was expected to supply 40,000 houses to Port Moresby residents. The houses were to be built at Duran Farm in Moitaka, National Capital District. Duran was to become a satellite town with its own police station, schools, recreational facilities and shopping center. Under the arrangement, ICBC will provide the financing through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), whereby the National Housing Corporation (NHC) and its business arm, National Housing Estate Limited and Niule #16 Ltd, a reputable industry player, are joint partners in the arrangement. The ‘build, sell and share’ concept will be applied for Papua New Guineans to buy at affordable costs. The houses will range from K100,000 low costs houses to K150,000 for medium while high costs houses, and will be left open for market forces to determine. A factory for the production of prefabricated buildings will be established, while local building materials will be fully utilized to replace imported materials. This is intended to reduce the cost of mobilization. A formal groundbreaking ceremony took place in early 2014. As of 2017, the project was ongoing. However, it is unclear if a loan agreement with ICBC was ever finalized.

Additional details

This project is also known as the Duran Farm Housing Project, the Duran Housing Project, and the Chinese-PNG Government Public Housing Project. Given that the project is being implemented on a PPP basis, AidData assumes that the borrower is a special purpose vehicle (SPV). This issue requires further investigation. In early 2014, PNG Housing and Urbanisation Minister Paul Isikiel negotiated a $500 million (K1.386 billion) loan agreement in China with ICBC for the Duran Housing Construction Project. Isikiel, who travelled to China with NHC managing director John Dege, said the negotiation was “with the full concurrence of the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill”. However, a statement from O’Neill’s office on May 19, 2014 said he was “surprised” by media reporting on the subject. He also said that he was “aware of a proposal being floated by the NHC to initiate a housing project” and that Isikeil had “led a delegation to China to look at options for this project”. But he also said that it was “premature to announce that a loan has been secured in China for this project as no such proposal has gone to Cabinet for approval. … Once the project details are finalised, the National Executive Committee will consider it fully before any steps are taken, including financing.” As such AidData, has status-coded this loan as a pledge

Number of official sources

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Number of total sources

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