A batch of 60 apartments of 200 to be built over the next four years in São Tomé and Príncipe with Chinese funding will be built in 2019, according to the Minister of Public Works, speaking when he presented the project.

“This first batch includes 60 social apartments over five buildings with three floors each,” the minister said on Friday without detailing the cost of this project, which will cover districts of the island of São Tomé as well as the autonomous region of Príncipe.

The three buildings will be built in the Cantagalo district [in the south of São Tomé Island] and two in Lobata [northern São Tomé Island], said the minister, who recalled that the agreement reached with China covers 200 apartments to be built in four years.

The social housing project presented on Friday in the capital of São Tomé is the result of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in December 2016, to the detriment of Taiwan.

China and São Tomé and Príncipe eight months ago in Beijing signed three cooperation agreements in the areas of infrastructure and education, involving an estimated financial donation of US$29 million. (Macauhub)