Chinese embassy clarifies reports on Angola project

The Chinese embassy in Angola on July 3 denied a media report, which said that a Chinese–built residential development project in the country is a "ghost town" with large empty estates.

A BBC report said on July 2 that a brand-new development project built by China International Trust and Investment Corporation on the outskirts of Luanda, the country's capital, is "eerily quiet".

Nearly a year since the first batch of 2,800 apartments went on sale, Nova Cidade de Kilamba, the mixed residential development designed to house up to half a million residents, only had 220 houses sold, it said.

The embassy's economic and commercial counselor's office clarified that construction of the project, divided in three phases, is not yet completed.

"The report by foreign media is totally inconsistent with the facts," the office was quoted as saying by the Global Times.

The first phase of the project is now completed, and sales are very good, an unnamed person at the economic and commercial counselor's office said, according to the paper.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos pledged in his 2008 presidential campaign to build one million apartments within four years. The newly built satellite city constructed by the Chinese company is "one important step for him to fulfill his election pledge".