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Press Release

Thursday, January 5, 2006

U.S. Small Business Uses OPIC Loan & Insurance to Build Housing in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A U.S. small business will use a loan and political risk insurance from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to build three residential buildings in Afghanistan, providing 105 new housing units for middle-income Afghans and much-needed investment in the country’s depleted housing sector, OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. announced today.

OPIC will provide a $2.47 million loan to Maskan Ltd., a subsidiary of Maskan Inc. of Delaware, with offices in Silver Spring, MD, for the construction of three residential buildings in Kabul, along with related water, sewage and backup electrical systems. OPIC is also providing a streamlined form of small business insurance, called an insurance ‘wrap,’ to the project, in the amount of $753,000.

The project represents the first phase in a development, called Sharhara, that will ultimately comprise 17 buildings – 10 residential, six mixed residential and commercial, and one commercial. Thirty five units from the first phase of the project have already been sold to prospective buyers.

Mosbacher noted that many regions of Afghanistan, especially cities such as Kabul, experience an acute shortage of housing due to a large influx of refugees from rural areas. Moreover, a recent U.N Habitat assessment of the most affected areas in Kabul indicated that approximately 80 percent of residential and commercial buildings had been damaged or completely destroyed during Soviet occupation and Taliban rule.

“The Afghan government is committed to reducing poverty in the country and increasing the housing stock, but their efforts will require substantial foreign direct investment in order to succeed,” Mosbacher said. “OPIC is pleased to support a U.S. small business which recognizes the critical role new housing plays in creating sustainable economic development, as well as meeting the most basic need of ordinary Afghans as they continue the country’s reconstruction.”

Maskan, Inc. is owned by an American and four expatriate Afghan-Americans with extensive experience in real estate development and property management. Maskan’s mission is to create a planned residential and business community in the center of Kabul that is built to international land use and construction standards, which will be home to working class and professional families, by providing affordable, quality apartments.


OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.  It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy.  Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad.  OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

 

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated $74 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 275,000 American jobs.