China and Africa Governments build Ghost Towns - Facts Analysis

Story:

China and Africa governments built hundreds of huge cities but no one lives in them.

Other Versions

1. Chinese Building Ghost Cities in Africa.

2. China built a ghost town in Africa.

Picture: China and Africa Governments build Ghost Towns — China and Africa Governments build Ghost Towns

Analysis:

The messages claim that China and African governments have been building hundreds of huge cities as ‘Ghost Towns’ and no body lives there. It is a fact, China has built series of buildings and cities that have been vacant.

The root of these stories goes back to the year 2003 when Chinese real estate market was on a high. The Chinese began to build city after city even in most inhospitable locations. Chinese people who were earning great wealth considered these as long-term investments and started buying them without intending to live in and even if there weren’t many renters available. This was because the stock market then was under pressure and China lacked other investment options. 20 new cities were being built every year and at the end of 2010, it was estimated that there were nearly 64 million vacant homes in these Chinese cities, and therefore they were called ‘Ghost Towns’ or ‘Ghost Cities’ because hardly anyone lived there. The actual meaning of a Ghost Town is the one which is abandoned by its people, for various reasons like failure of economy, natural or human disasters, etc. This is however a new scenario that created ghost towns. The Business Insider link in the reference section below shows satellite pictures of Chinese ‘ghost cities’ of Ordos, Zhengzhou, Erenhot, Dantu, Bayannao’er, Kangbashi and Yunnan University. The video below is a documentary of a journey man who has been to these Chinese ‘ghost cities’.

China also extended its business presence in Africa and has designed a high class city in Angola with a housing capacity of 500,000 people. The city is built on the outskirts of Luanda, the capital city of Angola and has 750 eight-storey blocks of apartments, each house starting from £75,000. However, most people of Angola could not afford these costly homes and so most of them have not been bought or occupied, which again created a ghost town in Africa. Financial experts believe that all this can be damaging to the economy of China.

Therefore, the conclusion is that China has indeed built a series of buildings and cities within the country and Africa which turned into ghost cities. However, like the term ‘Ghost Town’ may suggest, there is nothing related to ghosts in these cities built by China.