press releases

OPIC-Supported Housing Project In Zambia Underway

Vice President Lupando Mwape, U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Carmen Martinez, and Robert Mosbacher, Jr., president and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), on Monday, May 8, took part in a ceremony to launch the Lilayi Housing project. This private sector initiative will leverage over $100 million of new housing construction, generate 5,000 new homes, and serve as a model for future housing projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

OPIC is providing a $46.3 million loan to Houses for Africa (HFA) Zambia Limited, to facilitate mortgage financing for 5,000 new homes to be built in Lilayi, Lusaka. The company is a joint venture between Nevada-based Houses for Africa Inc.; Pangaea Holdings LLC. of Wisconsin; and City Investments Ltd, a Lusaka-based agricultural and real estate development company. They have formed Lilayi Development Holdings, with Madison Investment Company to develop the estate.

Ambassador Martinez said, "The Lilayi Estates project is building houses, yes. But at its heart, is doing much more. It is instilling a new sense of home ownership, introducing affordable financial instruments, and, in the end, building community." President Mosbacher said, “Housing investment is a key component of economic development, both because housing is a basic social need and because private home ownership is an important source of capital for entrepreneurship at the grass roots level. A fully functioning housing market, including clearly-defined titles to privately-owned property, is an important element in the construction of a dynamic market economy,”

The Lilayi estate will provide electricity, water and sewage, street lighting, trash removal and parking amenities, as well as stations for bus and taxi services. It will also feature a separate commercial and retail area with banking services on site, primary and secondary schools, clinics, green areas for recreation and municipal services. The target buyers of the houses will be salaried workers and self-employed persons. The project also represents significant progress toward fulfillment of President Bush’s Administration African Mortgage Market Initiative, established in July 2003 to encourage the development of mortgage markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide technical assistance in the enhancement of the title deeds registry system within the Zambian Ministry of Lands, which will ensure the timely delivery of certificates of title and recording of mortgages.

OPIC was established as an agency of the U.S. government in 1971. It helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy. Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers. OPIC’s political risk insurance and financing help U.S. businesses of all sizes invest in more than 150 emerging markets and developing nations worldwide. Over the agency’s 35-year history, OPIC has supported $164 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate more than 732,000 host-country jobs and $13 billion in host-government revenues. OPIC projects have also generated $69 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 264,000 American jobs.

For more information on OPIC, see www.opic.gov.
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