CoW to decide on CalgroKuumba offer

By Eliaser Ndeyanale and Johannes Hangula
THE municipality of Wind­hoek is yet to decide on an offer on compensation of land being developed in Ot­jomuise proposed by CalgroKu­umba Planning and Design, a joint venture company of busi­nessman Titus Nakuumba and South African company, Calgro.
In August 2014, CalgroKuumba entered into a Public Private Part­nership (PPP) with the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development for installation of municipal ser­vices, and construction of low and high density affordable housing units at Otjomuise Extension 10.
In a letter dated October 18 2016 seen by Confidente, Cal­groKuumba proposed to compen­sate the city at a rate of N$60.00 per square metre. The proposed residential developable land area is estimated to be 372 046 square metres, in extend. The City of Windhoek (CoW) has yet to ap­prove the offer before the pro­posed handover of the first part of the completed housing units tak­ing place this month.
The land sale proposal will re­sult in an income of N$22 322 760.00 to the city. This offer ex­cludes the portion of land where the ministry’s Phase 1 devel­opment is taking place, public amenities and commercial por­tions of land.
Should CoW accept this offer, it will also be entitled to 50 percent of the net profit from the sales of non-residential portion of land.
However, CoW has recom­mended that because not all costs related to the developments are known the ultimate price of the value of land can only be finally determined when all such costs have been qualified and quanti­fied.
“Should internal investigation and consultation propose further changes to the provisional layout submitted, the price may need to be adjusted accordingly,” the council recommended.
CalgroKuumba was tasked to build 1 200 low-cost houses, the land was serviced with funds from the Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (Tipeeg). At a meeting between Cal­groKuumba and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development in November 23 last year, it was decided that there was an urgency to determine the price of land on which CalgroKuumba is con­structing housing units for the Mass Housing Programme pur­poses.
“In order to enable the Ministry and the Windhoek Municipality to take an expeditious decision on CalgroKuumba’s offer of N$60 per square metres (inclusive VAT if applicable) as compensation for the developable area of the residential portion of land, Cal­groKuumba is hereby requested to provide the following infor­mation as a matter of urgency and preferably by end of business on 28 November 2016,” Daniel Nghidinua permanent secretary in the Ministry of Urban and Ru­ral Development wrote to Naku­umba and Wayne Williams, Cal­gro’s chief legal officer.
According to documents from monthly municipal council meet­ing, the ministry is imploring the City to consider advice on the of­fer made by CalgroKuumba for the residual value of land in Ot­jomuise Extension 10.
CalgroKuumba provided their basis for the calculation of the proposed residual value by letter dated November 25 2016 to the ministry and such letter was for­warded to the city.
“We would like to bring it to your attention that the proposed amount of N$60.00 per square metre allows the development to deliver basic housing units in ac­cordance with agreed upon price range of N$300 000 to N$850 000 per unit as was agreed to in the PPP Agreements,” read part of the letter.
Although the city has alleg­edly been struggling to obtain information from CalgroKuumba since last December to consider the proposal and to appropriately advise the management commit­tee on the matter, the process has been moving at a snail’s pace and this is the reason why it has not been finalised.