Bank delays deny $50m Chinese loan for Enugu estate

The $50m project funds approved by the Chinese Credit Insurance Corporation, through the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for the construction of HELIU Residences, Enugu is yet to be accessed, promoters of the project have said.  This is as a result of the delays said to be caused by a bank, which is […]

The $50m project funds approved by the Chinese Credit Insurance Corporation, through the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for the construction of HELIU Residences, Enugu is yet to be accessed, promoters of the project have said. 

This is as a result of the delays said to be caused by a bank, which is supposed to provide the local guarantee for the loan.

Our correspondent gathered that out of the project sum of $50m, the Chinese Credit Insurance Corporation, SINOSURE, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will provide $42.5m or 85 per cent of the total project sum, while FIT Consult will provide the equity of 15 per cent or $7.5m.

The Managing Partner of FIT Consult – the Nigerian Developer constructing the HELIU Residences project in partnership with the Enugu State government, Chief Loretta Aniagolu told newsmen October last year that a Chinese firm, the China Shenyang Internationale Economic and Technical Cooperation Corporation Limited (CSYIC China) has been working with FIT Consult since 2016 to construct the four bedroom duplexes and a number of the ancillary support buildings and services within the estate. 

But to date, it is not quite clear when FIT Consult would access the loan for the construction of the project, Aniagolu said expressing surprise over the development, 

“We are currently experiencing delays from bank; and we’re not sure what’s going on, particularly, after we had structured the loan to ensure adequate buffers within exchange rate fluctuations,” she said.

“However, we continue to advance aggressively with our own funds and deposits from property buyers, as you can see from the tremendous amount of work that has been achieved and is going on,” she told Daily Trust in Enugu.

Our correspondent visited the project site covering about 1.2 million square metres containing about 20 kilometres of road network.

It was observed that 70 bungalows have been completed while massive construction work was on-going with heavy-duty trucks loading and off-loading electric poles, and earth-moving machines excavating for the water supply.