Construction has started on a new Chinese-financed R84bn city in Modderfontein, Gauteng.

According to a report by The Star, work on the first set of 300 residential units and some of the roads is already under way.

Chinese firm Shanghai Zendai acquired 1 600 hectares of land in Modderfontein in 2013 to build the city.

Zendai South Africa chief operating officer Du Wendui said the development is a 10- to 15-year project, and there would be scepticism about its success, based on artists’ impression of it as the new Manhattan of Africa.

“The project will be market driven, and depending on what our clients or developers want, the sky is the limit.

“Twenty years ago, nobody would have imagined that Sandton would look like it does today with its multiple skyscrapers,” he was quoted as saying.

Plans for the city include a central business district, churches, a library, hospital and medical facilities, a sports and international conference centre, schools, and low-cost housing, among others.

Zendai’s chairperson Dai Zhikang said in 2013 that the project would transform the property into a “New York of Africa”.

“It will become the future capital for the whole of Africa,” he said.