China Development Bank provides $37 million loan for the 3000 Sambizanga Social Housing Units Project

In 2016, China Development Bank (CDB) and the Government of Angola signed a $37 million loan agreement for the 3000 Sambizanga Social Housing Units Project. This loan was reportedly obtained through a master loan facility agreement. The borrowing terms of the loan are unknown. This project involved the construction of 3,000 social housing units for families whose land was expropriated under a presidential order. This project took place in Sambizanga district within the city of Luanda. Sambizanga is one of the six districts in the municipality of Luanda. It consists of the communes of Sambizanga, Bairro Operário and Ngola Kiluanje. It has 14.5 square kilometers and about 244,000 inhabitants. In late June 2016, China Gezhouba Group Company was awarded the $137.3 million commercial contract. A groundbreaking ceremony for this project took place on 1 August 2016. The first phase of 576 housing units was completed and inhabited in 2018. A set of schools for the neighborhood were handed over in January 2020. The second phase of 1470 houses and supporting municipalities were handed over to owners and completed immigration in 2021. On 19 May 2021, a foundation-laying ceremony was held for the police station, school, and medical center in the new Sambizanga neighborhood. Construction of the third phase of 954 houses is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 安哥拉桑比赞加安置房工程. This project may be financed through the CDB 2015 MLFA worth $15 billion (see Project ID#66847). For the timing being, AidData records the face value of the CDB loan ($37 million) that is reported in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020. However, the value of the commercial contract for this project is $137.3 million, so it is possible that SAIS-CARI misreported the face value (See: Chinese firm awarded US$137-mln social housing project in Angola and Empresa da China constrói habitação social em Luanda, Angola). These issues require further investigation.

Number of official sources

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