(Yicai Global) Oct. 12 -- China Minsheng Drawin Technology Group Ltd. (CMIG Drawin), a unit of China Minsheng Investment Group Co. focused on prefabricated construction, held the opening ceremony for its John Dude New City project in South Africa on Oct. 10.

China Minsheng Investment Group (CMIG) is a major investor in the project, which is the group's first prefab construction venture in Africa.

CMIG Drawin will build 18,000 affordable homes, public leasing houses and commercial properties, as well as schools, hospitals and shopping malls in the John Dude New City using CMIG Drawin's prefabricated construction technology, with a total planned investment of about USD1.26 billion (ZAR17 billion), CMIG Drawin Chief Executive Yin Jun told Yicai Global. The project is expected to be completed in ten years.

Except for a small number of technical management experts from CMIG Drawin, 95 percent of the staff will be hired locally. Subsidiaries of French construction group Vinci SA [EURONEXT:DG] will jointly develop the project, Yin said.

He hopes that Chinese technical standards will be exported to South Africa and become the local standards by the end of this year. CMIG Drawin plans to meet the South Africa's qualification requirements by then, breaking market and technical barriers there.

CMIG Drawin has developed ties with 12 Belt and Road countries, including Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, and it has taken part in the urbanization of these countries using advanced technologies, said Yin.

Prefabricated construction allows for the assembly of standardized building parts on construction sites. It can offer improved quality and is more efficient, less limited by climate conditions, more eco-friendly and less labor intensive than traditional construction.