China to release loan for Fiji's housing project

Submitted by Narayan24 on Fri, 29/01/2010 - 8:20am

Officials from Fiji's Prime Minister's Office and Housing Authority chairman Pio Tikoduadua confirmed this on Tuesday saying the loan finer details were being drafted before finalisation either by Friday or early next week.

He expects all documentation to be ready at the latest by next week six months after the application was lodged by the Fiji government.

The Export-Import Bank of China is expected to give the Housing Authority of $70 million (US36.2 million) as part of its development loan.

The loan is part of the Fiji’s administration $260 million (US$134.5 million) allocation under the Chinese Soft Loan Facility from the Exim Bank.

The China Railway First Company Ltd has won the tender to carry out the development of 1,500 residential lots on 184 acres of land in Tacirua Stage 2 for the authority.

Last March Vice President of China Railway Sun Yangjun said the contractual agreement had been finalized but the money was yet to be released by the Exim Bank.

The China Railway First Company Ltd is ready to work on the residential development as soon as the approval of the loan by the Chinese government is finalized.

China's Exim Bank will fund the construction and building works in Tacirua.

The bank, which is solely owned by the Chinese government, is one of the largest banking institutions in China with more than 300 overseas branches worldwide.

SOURCE: XINHUA/PACNEWS