People owning houses falling within a supposed security zone around the new State House complex will no longer have their properties expropriated by the State, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, announced in a media statement late on Wednesday.

People owning undeveloped plots of land in the area still face expropriation, however.

The sudden announcement that the scope of a plan to expropriate properties in the area was being scaled down substantially comes almost three and a half years after property owners who were to be affected by the forced State acquisition of their properties were first informed that Government was planning to expropriate their plots of land and houses in that upmarket residential area.

At that stage, some 50 properties in the area were being targeted for expropriation.

Government stated at the time that the purpose of the expropriation was to create a secure area around the new presidential headquarters of Namibia, which are being built at an estimated cost of some half a billion Namibia dollars.

At the time, affected property owners were also told not to add any further improvements to their properties - or to face not being compensated for such improvements once the expropriation went through.

At its last meeting for the year on December 12, Cabinet has now revisited the issue, Nandi-Ndaitwah said in her statement.

It has "decided to expropriate only the 15 undeveloped private properties and allow the owners of the 10 developed properties to stay on," she stated.

"Cabinet directed that the money needed for the expropriation of the 15 undeveloped private properties should be made available through normal budgetary provisions," she added.

The owners of the affected 15 undeveloped properties will be contacted by the Ministries of Finance and Works, Transport and Communication to inform them of compensation procedures and the offers that are to be made to them according to valuations done by Government valuers, Nandi-Ndaitwah stated.

"This will also give them the opportunity to provide Government with their head of claims, which will eventually pave the way for a fair and just compensation," she stated.

Since receiving a first expropriation warning at the end of July 2003, affected Auasblick property owners have for the most part been kept in the dark about Government's further plans on that score, with the issue remaining hanging in the air until now.

In April 2004, though, affected property owners received letters from the Ministry of Works in which they were informed that properties had been earmarked for expropriation on the basis of their elevation and unobstructed views that they offered over the site of the new State House complex.

"Such location poses a tangible risk in respect of possible espionage, sabotage, subversion, terrorism and other similar activities which may negatively impact on the security interests of Namibia as well as the personal security of the development's intended occupants including, but not limited to, the Namibian Head of State and foreign dignitaries," it was stated in the letters to the affected property owners.

Only five months after those letters had been hand-delivered, the City of Windhoek put more plots of land at Auasblick - some offering wide, unobscured views over the State House complex - up for sale at a public auction.

All 44 Auasblick erven that were on auction were sold, at an average price of about N$425 000.

Plots with views over the State House area were also sold, with one of these fetching a price of N$570 000, which might give an indication of the sort of prices Government would have to pay for plots that it expropriates.

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