Malopa seeks partners in $2.6bn Cape Maclear Project

An ambitious Cape Maclear  project in lakeshore district of Mangochi that could change the face of Monkey Bay and turn it into a mini city is still seeking investors to fund part of the $2.6 billion (K1.9 trillion) project, its promoter Bright Malopa has said.

Malopa, who is an employee of Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra), last year said investors have shown interest to fund part of the venture consisting three projects conceived and pursued by Cape Maclear Hotel and Golf Resort Limited.

He is on record saying they have already identified sponsors, including NEO Energy Asia, China Harbour Engineering from China, Al Manhal International Group from Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and AE7 Group of Companies as project finance and development managers.

However, the local press quoted Malopa on Monday saying they are still looking for investors to fund part of the tourism project.

“Cape Maclear Resort Project will consist  $750 million [K549 billion] touristic, leisure and residential project featuring five hotels, 700 serviced residences, a signature golf club and golf course, tennis academy, a marina,  an aqua park, an aquarium, a cultural village and a major events arena. We want to have this project take off,” said Malopa.

According to Malopa, investors are  ready to pump into this project between 30 percent and 40 percent of the total project cost whereas the rest will be debt from PTA Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Afrexim, KFW and HSBC and hedge funds from Switzerland subject to clear position on Mangochi Airport.