Shanghai Zendai's S African 'city' takes off

Johannesburg

CHINA'S Shanghai Zendai Property on Tuesday launched the first phase of an 87 billion rand (S$9 billion) new city project in South Africa, saying the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy would not affect construction.

The local unit of the Hong Kong-listed firm said that it had completed some luxury accommodation units at a cost of 400 million rand, taking investment on the project near the commercial capital of Johannesburg to 1.4 billion rand. The homes are part of the planned 1,600 hectare "Modderfontein New City" that will include offices, a light industry park, housing for 100,000 people, schools and entertainment centres.