After signing a deal with a Rwandan bank to build 2,000 affordable housing units, Shelter Afrique is heading to Senegal in West Africa for a similar deal.
The Pan African housing developer has signed a US$11.6 million line of credit with Senegal’s Teyliom Group for the construction of affordable housing units.
Shelter Afrique says the money will go toward the development of affordable housing with the world-class Diamniadio Lake City (DLC).
The deal with Teyliom Group is the first significant project Shelter Afrique has embarked on in Senegal since 2016 and is the second transaction the Company is making with the Teyliom Group.
When complete, the project is expected to deliver large-scale affordable housing of 3,439 units with selling prices starting at US$26,000 for more than 20,000 individuals and create more than 3,000 jobs, with a sizeable number of those being held by women.
“The project is demonstrative of the guiding principles of Shelter Afrique over the last couple of years. Our 2019-2023 strategy promotes the development of large-scale housing units of nothing less than 1000 units, Teyliom Group project ticks that box,” Shelter Afrique Chief Executive Officer Andrew Chimphondah said.
Shelter Afrique is the only pan-African finance institution that exclusively supports the development of the housing and real estate sector in Africa. The company is owned by 44 African Governments, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Africa Reinsurance Company.
Decongesting Dakar
The DLC is a government-approved futuristic city based in Diamniadio designed to ease the congestion in the capital, Dakar.
Dakar, Senegal’s capital, is home to a quarter of the country’s 14 million people. The US$2 billion DLC is meant to ease residential and commercial congestion in the city. The project approved in 2013 is part of President Macky Sall’s plan to rebuild Diamniadio city and revive the country’s economy.
The project extending over 1644 hectares will have residential areas and business districts.
In addition to having hotels, fashion centres, the Abdou Diouf International conference area, Dakar Arena for sports, research centres and an exposition centre, the LEED-certified project will also accommodate government ministries and universities among other establishments.
A 32 km express highway will connect the DLC to Dakar which is expected to reduce travel time by an hour to 30 minutes.
Already, Senegal has launched the first regional electric express train, the Train Express Regional (TER) replacing the old railway line which was abandoned in 2009.
The DLC is expected to be completed in 2035.
“We have approved 25 projects for a total of US$56 million in the country. Some of the notable projects we have funded in that time are Grand Mbao-Senegal (Phase 3) in March 2002 for FCFA 1 billion, the Espace Ouakam in November 2006 for FCFA 690 million and Al Azhar in March 2009 for FCFA 400 million,” Chiphondah said.
“In in March 2008, Shelter Afrique extended a line of FCFA 1.92 billion. We are happy with this partnership with to Teyliom Group because it has proved to be a reliable and trustworthy partner,” Chimphondah added.
Also speaking at the signing ceremony, Teyliom Group Chief Executive Yigo Faly Thiam said the investment was timely as there is a growing housing demand in Senegal.
