2 April 2014
China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) says it has signed a contract worth $712m to build 15,000 affordable apartments in the far-eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk, near the Chinese border.
With the overall floor space of 790,000 sq m, and usable area of 530,000 sq m, the project, designed as the affordable housing standard, will be implemented in five work phases, CSCEC said.
CSCEC earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Russia for affordable housing projects in Russia and the Far East in the 8th "Sino-Russian Economic and Business Summit".
The Khabarovsk "Large Housing Project" is one of the projects listed in the MOU.
CSCEC said the project will be implemented by the owner with loans under the $5bn framework agreement entered into between China Development Bank (CDB) and the Russian Ministry of Far East Development.
Last year Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency reported that Chinese investors would help build 15,000 apartments in a project carried out by Russian construction association, Svoy Dom.
President of the Builders Association of Russia, Nikolai Koshman, said CSCEC "will come with its capital and act as a developer". He said labour would be Russian but Chinese builders would be engaged if needed.
