China-Backed BAOSEN Project Adds Apartments to Growing PNG Investment Portfolio

A grassland site in Boroko once written off as unproductive is now the centrepiece of a K2 billion commercial push, after Prime Minister James Marape broke ground yesterday on the apartment component of the BAOSEN Chinatown project in the National Capital District.

The apartment build is the middle phase of a three-stage rollout for the site, joining a nearly-finished shopping mall and a hotel still to come, as developers press ahead with what has become one of the more closely watched foreign-backed ventures in Papua New Guinea in recent years.

 China-Backed BAOSEN Project Adds Apartments to Growing PNG Investment Portfolio

Speaking at the ceremony, the Prime Minister held up the project as a working example of how the Government's Special Economic Zone policy could translate into real construction and real jobs when paired with a willing private partner.

According to Mr Marape, the arrangement had converted a long-dormant plot into a commercial undertaking carrying real weight for future employment and local economic activity.

"This place has been grassland up to today. Our Government, under the leadership of Minister Maru, decided to use the Special Economic Zone policy and bring in a private sector partner," the Prime Minister said.

He returned to a familiar theme, telling the gathering that Papua New Guinea's economy needed a private sector capable of standing on its own, rather than one perpetually propped up by state spending.

The Prime Minister also acknowledged Chinese investors who have kept faith with PNG since diplomatic relations were established in 1975, and repeated the country's continued backing of the One China Policy.

Minister Richard Maru told the ceremony that trade links with China would be given a further lift when Papua New Guinea stages its first PNG-China Business Forum and Trade Expo in Guangzhou on October 20 and 21.

"We have been hosting the Expo and Business Forum in Australia for 41 years. This year we will host our first forum in China," he said.

Mr Maru said his dealings with Special Economic Zones had shown him just how eager Chinese businesses were to put money into PNG-based projects.

"I want to commend the Chinese Government and the Chinese people for your confidence and trust in our country. Four generations of Chinese have lived in Papua New Guinea and many have become part of our communities," he said.

The Minister confirmed the mall section of the BAOSEN development remained on track for a December opening.

For his part, Governor Powes Parkop used the occasion to reflect on the project's difficult early days, recalling how the pandemic disrupted construction after the developer's own project team, then based in Wuhan, found itself at the centre of the outbreak.

"However, you have seen the progress now," the Governor said.

Mr Parkop said that with the mall almost complete and a hotel still to be built, Boroko was being reshaped into a commercial hub that would come fully into its own within five years, bringing new retail space, accommodation, apartment living, jobs and investment to the capital.