Designed to house up to half a million people, China's largest new "satellite city" project, the city Kilamba in Africa remains a ghost town due to high living costs and failed access to bank credit, reported The CNN. Perched in an isolated spot some 30 kilometers outside Angola's capital, Luanda, Nova Cidade de Kilamba is a brand-new mixed residential development of 750 apartment buildings, a dozen schools and more than 100 retail units. Designed to house up to half a million people when complete, Kilamba has been built by the state-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) in under three years at a reported cost of US$ 3.5 billion. Spanning 5000 hectares, the development is the largest of several new "satellite cities" being constructed by Chinese firms around Angola, and it is believed to be one of the largest new-build projects on the continent. However, after sales start revealed, that two-thirds of Angolans cannot afford Kilamba's apartments which are advertised online as being between US$ 120and US$ 200 thousand. The jewel in Angola's post-war reconstruction crown, Kilamba is the star of glossy government promotional videos which show smiling families enjoying a new style of living away from the dust and confusion of central Luanda where millions live in sprawling slums. But the people in these films are only actors, and despite all the hype, nearly a year since the first batch of 2800 apartments went on sale, only 220 have been sold. Apartments at Kilamba are being advertised online costing between US$ 120 and US$ 200 thousand - well out of reach of the estimated two-thirds of Angolans who live on less than US$ 2 a day. However, Paulo Cascao, general Manager at Delta Imobiliaria, the real estate agency handling the sales, told the BBC that the problem was not the price, but difficulty in accessing bank credit. Now the authorities are planning rent houses for long term, but BBC experts believe that it will not help to improve the situation as the majority of Angolan citizens are too poor and the rich part of the population is interested only in luxury accommodation.

The powerful prime minister of Qatar is ready to plunk down nearly US$ 100 million for the city's most expensive penthouse - an ultra-luxe, two-story pad atop the under-construction One57 condominium across the street from Carnegie Hall, The New-York Post reported. The stunning duplex penthouse, with total area 1 thousand square meters, features a "grand salon," a large mezzanine, four fireplaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, at least five bedrooms, and motorized window shades, placed in the 90-story One57 building. Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani first eyed the spread after a Fifth Avenue board rejected his bid to spend US$ 31.5 million on two apartments owned by the late Huguette Clark, an eccentric American copper heiress and he decided to buy the One57 penthouse only after the Huguette Clark rejection. Sheik Hamad also opened discussions with Extell Development about buying a cluster of four separate, full-floor condos in One57 building. According to publication, that would up the total purchase to a staggering US$ 250 million. He wants his relatives to live in these apartments. The sheik has two wives and 15 children and a huge entourage. Previous price record belonged to an unknown buyer, who paid US$ 90 million in May for the penthouse in the same building, One57. Earlier the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought an apartment in New York for US$ 88 million for his student daughter.

After Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an inter-governmental agreement in Istanbul on construction of Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on June 26, Georgia started talking about another Nabucco rival project. According to local mass media, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Grigol Vashadze announced that Georgia is ready to implement AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector) pipeline construction project, which will supply gas from the Caspian region to Europe bypassing Russia. He also added that although Nabucco is fundamentally important project, its implementation is postponed from year to year. So Georgia offers AGRI, as it is much cheaper and much faster to carry out than Nabucco. In 2010, the presidents of Azerbaijan, Romania and Georgia signed a memorandum on implementation of the project. The AGRI is a proposed project to transport Azerbaijani natural gas to Romania and further to Central Europe. Natural gas would be transported by pipeline from Azerbaijan to the Black Sea coast of Georgia. The liquefied natural gas export terminal (LNG plant) would be built. Liquefied natural gas will be transported by LNG tankers to the Constan?a terminal in Romania. After regasification natural gas will be delivered through the existing gas grid to Romania and other European countries. According to business newspaper "Vzgliad", the prospects for Nabucco are vague, as it is too expensive. It was found that the project cost will be US$ 19 billion instead of planned 10 billion. In addition, it simply had nothing to fill, as pipeline from Azerbaijan to Europe will carry 10 billion cubic meters gas a year. This is only a third of the Nabucco capacity. So project managers decided to reduce the pipeline length of almost three times. Short version of Nabucco will be about 1300 kilometers long, and it will run across the 4 countries starting from Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austrian Baumgarten city. However Russian experts believe that AGRI Implementation chances are quiet low, because of low capacity. According to analyst Gregory Birg, AGRI project cost less than the main alternatives are considered, and may be about US$ 2-5 billion to build, depending on capacity, which may vary from 2 to 8 billion cubic meters a year. At the same time the cost of the "South stream" can reach US$ 20-25 billion (63 billion cubic meters) and the construction of Nabucco(31 billion cubic meters), according to some estimates, may be only a little cheaper.

Azerbaijan and Turkey yesterday signed an inter-governmental agreement in Istanbul on construction of Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP). Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev participated in the signing ceremony. The new pipeline will carry up to 16 billion cubic meters gas a year from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field through Turkey as far as its European borders. The project is in direct competition with the multinational Nabucco pipeline project sponsored by a consortium that includes OMV and RWE and is baked by the European Commission, Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. The founders of the new consortium are Azerbaijani State Oil Company with 80 percent shares, Turkish Botas oil state gas company and Turkiye Petrolleri Oil Company with 20 percent shares. In future other international oil-gas companies also may join the consortium. "We are going to solve all the issues connected with the project and without losing time pass to the construction works so that the new pipeline be ready by 2017," Rovnag Abdulayev, chairman of the Azerbaijani state oil company said. 2000 kilometers long new pipeline starts from Azerbaijan and stretches to either Greece or Bulgarian border through Turkey's territory. The first phase of the gas pipeline construction is said to cost US$ 7-8 billion.

The theme selected by the UIA Council for the World Day of Architecture to be celebrated on 1st October 2012 is: Architects are city changers, reported the site of International Union of Architects, UIA. With this theme, the International Union of Architects hopes to contribute to the movement initiated by the United Nations through their World urban campaign 'Better Cities, Better Lives'. City dwellers will make up 70 percent of the world population in 2050, and cities must enact drastic changes in order to accommodate the citizens of the 21st century and offer them living conditions conducive to personal development and well-being. Architects will play a crucial role in this evolution by their capacity to meet the challenges of global urban sustainability and develop the tools needed to create resilient and sustainably liveable cities. On 1st October 2012, the World Day of Architecture will be an opportunity for the world's architects, the UIA Member Sections and its work programs to demonstrate the role they can play in changing our cities for the future.