Water investments underway in Santiago

Good local infrastructure is generally viewed as one of the key things people should look out for when choosing locations for property investment. Few people wish to go on holiday or emigrate to places where the facilities are substantially worse than they are back home. As property expert Lorna Vestey explained in the Telegraph this week to someone interested in making a housing purchase abroad: "While you don't want to be overrun by Brits, I suspect you won't want to be in a backwater where there are virtually no English-speakers and standards are reminiscent of the Fifties."

Poor infrastructure can limit demand from people either wanting to rent a property or buy it, which is perhaps one of the reasons why already established investment hotspots continue to top popularity lists year after year. The problem with these counties, however, is that the property in them is often very expensive, which can make it more difficult to enter into their markets and limit potential returns.

What many shrewd investors are looking for is an up-and-coming location, where prices are still relatively low, but the infrastructure is in place to help fuel future demand. One place that might just fit this bill is the island of Santiago in Cape Verde. While still viewed as having an emerging property market, solid infrastructure is in place and efforts are being made to improve it all the time. According to Macauhub, the country's central bank recently stressed it believes "strong" investment in public works by the government is crucial to the islands' continuing economic growth amid the global recession.

Among the latest projects being undertaken is one that will improve the amount of water which is available for agriculture in Santiago's Santa Cruz district. Macauhub quoted Jose Maria Veiga, Cape Verde's minister for the environment, rural development and marine resources, as saying 11 new tanks are currently under construction in the area, which will provide an additional 2,000 cubic metres of water.

Furthermore, €500,000 (£429,633) is being pumped into another Santiago development that will see the setting up of a number of pipe links to the Poilao dam, Mr Veiga said. His comments were made in parliament as he discussed a €14 million investment that will see a new fishing port set up at Mindelo. This project is designed not only to benefit Cape Verdean fisherman, he suggested, but foreign visitors to the islands as well.

This article has been brought to you be Sambala; the developer for Cape Verde Property.

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