KINSHASA City-Province General Construction.

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Urban development: UAE's Rakeen Signs Deal To Invest $500Million In Congo
Thu Jul 19, 3:00 PM ET

KINSHASA (AFP) - The United Arab Emirates agreed on Thursday to invest 500 million dollars (362 million euros) in a project to renovate and modernise housing in Kinshasa.


"This project concerns the construction in Kinshasa of one hotel with 300 rooms, four apartment buildings and a modern shopping centre," said Democratic Republic of Congo's public works minister, Pierre Lumbi.

He was speaking at a signing ceremony in Kinshasa with Khater Massaad, who heads Rakeen, one of the UAE's largest property developers.

The DR Congo capital, a megalopolis counting more than six million inhabitants, has long faced a hotel shortage, and most of its public housing dates back to the Belgian colonial era and lies largely in ruin.

The deal will also be extended to other DR Congo cities in the regions most hard-hit by the years of war and conflict, from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2003, when most of the country's infrastructure was destroyed.

"Our cities need to be modernised," Lumbi said.

Massaad meanwhile pledged to break ground at the Kinshasa sites within six months, stating that the project was "extremely important and marks the beginning of a series of other projects in a number of areas."

"The DRC is one of the large countries whose development the United Arab Emirates wants to participate in," he said.