Africa's incredible £2.2bn 'ghost town' with 'abandoned' £150,000 apartments

The vast project was completed back in 2012. (Image: Getty)

An epic multi-billion-pound residential development sprung up outside a major African capital backed by Chinese investment - but was intially described as "eerily quiet".

Located around 18 miles outside the Angolan capital, Luanda, Nova Cidade de Kilamba is home to hundreds of towering residential buildings and around 20,000 flats.

Authorities championed it as part of its missing to accommodate the country's rapid growth, with the creation of "new centralities" on the outskirts of Luanda and other provinces in recent years, as per The Africa Report.

It was inaugurated in 2011, and in the early days after it was completed, there were fears that Nova Cidade de Kilamba, which was said to have been built in just three years, could have a fate similar to some other ambitious housing projects in Beijing has been involved in recently.

These have included surreal "copy towns" across China that reproduce the architecture of famous cities like Paris, London, and Florence, but have suffered due to various factors, including economic slow downs and the prohibitive pricing of properties.

The town is now said to have attracted interest from buyers after a slow start. (Image: Getty)

Reporting on the newly built metropolis in 2012, BBC News said the development covered 12,355 acres at the time, with hopes that it would go on to house some 500,000 people.

A dozen schools and over 100 retail units were built with a view to creating a vibrant and functioning new settlement.

The first phase of the $3.5 billion (£2.7billion) development was constructed a state-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation, one of "several satellite cities being constructed by Chinese firms around Angola," the outlet said.

It was said to have been financed through Chinese loans repaid using Angolan oil sales, as per The Africa Report.

But at first, the city was regarded as something of a white elephant, facing a difficult start due to the price point of the new properties.

The city was reportedly almost fully occupied as of April 2023. (Image: Getty)

Back in 2012, apartments were being advertised online at between $120,000 and $200,000, making them unrealistic for the two-thirds of Angolans getting by on less than $2 a day, BBC News reported.

As of July 3, only a couple of hundred apartments had been sold of the first batch of 2,800 apartments went on sale, and it remained sparsely populated, the outlet reported, with the city described as "eerily quiet".

But in time, it did see an upturn and was even expanded with 5,000 more homes.

It then had to weather an economic crisis the country suffered between 2014 and 2016, but was almost fully occupied with functioning electricity and water infrastructure, local administration, police, and health centres as of April 2023, as per The Africa Report.

Though the city remains far from affordable for many ordinary citizens, it is now said to be a far cry from the "ghost town" it once was.