Bank of China provides $150 million loan for Forest City Road Infrastructure Project

📋 Staff Comments

1. The Chinese project title is 森林城市项目.
2. Esplanade Danga 88 Sdn. Bhd is owned by state agency Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor and the state monarch Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar.
3. Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor Sdn. Bhd. (KPRJ) was incorporated on November 8, 1995 as a private limited company wholly owned by the State Government of Johor.
4. Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar was the fifth Sultan of modern Johor since ascending to the throne following the death of his father, Sultan Iskandar, in 2010. He was crowned the King of Malaysia on January 31, 2024.
5. Country Garden Holdings Company Limited is a real estate development company that operates in China, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands. The company was founded in 1992 by Kwok Keung Yeung and is headquartered in Foshan, Guangdong, China. Country Garden is one of the largest urban residential property developers in China by sales volume.
6. In August 2023, Country Garden Holdings Company Limited joined the ranks of once-strong Chinese property developers in deferring millions of dollars in debt payments. This was followed in October 2023 by cross defaults in up to $11 billion of offshore bonds, raising fears that overseas projects and assets such as Forest City would be sold or seized by creditors during the debt restructuring.
7. The precise commitment year of the Bank of China loan is unknown. For the time being, AidData assumes that it corresponds to the first year of project implementation (2014). This issue warrants further investigation.

📚 Sources & References

• 中马合建未来城市 探索企业“走出去”升级版
• 碧桂园森林城市彰显中国“营造力”
• Forest City
• 中国银行广东省分行以“三个助力”服务广东实体经济发展【新华网、腾讯网】
• 发挥五大特色优势 推进五大助力行动 广东中行服务粤企融入全球财富发展新格局【广州日报】
• 三大助力金融支持 建设全球一流银行
• Country Garden’s financial woes may hit Malaysia projects
• Urban speculation for survival: Adaptations and negotiations in Forest City
• Malaysia
• Johor Sultan is stakeholder of Forest City project, “Johor’s Stormy Property Landscape”
• Forest City management building alternative road after road collapse incident
• EVALUATING MEGAPROJECTS: THE CASE OF FOREST CITY IN JOHOR
• MALAYSIA
• In a Malaysian Pop-Up City
• Echoes of China’s Housing Crash
• Country Garden Forest City: 'ghost town' that can't be rented, can't be sold, and can't be returned Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.