THE government spent N$180 million on an incomplete fresh produce market, a building overlooking one of the poorest informal settlements in Windhoek.
The building sits on a 12-hectare plot at Wanaheda, just across Havana. That settlement is home to 50 000 shacks. It is located near the popular Eveline Street, close to a rocky and dusty football field.
Havana residents were disappointed to hear that N$180 million was splashed on a neglected site at a time when they have been appealing for plots, and basic services such as water, toilets and electricity.
According to the Namibia Housing Action Group which funds the Shack Dwellers Federation, the N$180 million could have been used to build about 5 000 houses in Havana at the cost of N$36 000 each.
The building was set to be a fresh produce business hub and the centre to coordinate the distribution of fruit and vegetables in the country.
In 2014, a tender was awarded to a joint venture between a Chinese state-owned Jiangsu Zhengtai and Namibian owned Uundenge Construction which is owned by Laban Kandume, a businessman who has won several lucrative contracts at the agriculture ministry in the last decade.
The joint venture then passed on the contract to North Korean-owned company Mansudae Overseas Projects to construct the facility which was supposed to be completed by 2018 but the contract was terminated in July 2020.
The weekly newsletter, Tender Bulletin raised a red flag about this tender two years ago. It said the tender was awarded to a foreign company, despite being restricted to “100% Namibian-owned registered SMEs and Namibian nationals”.
To some, this project was a money making scheme for top government officials and their cronies.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Reform last month confirmed to The Namibian that construction at the site has come to a standstill.
However, it insisted that the N$180 million paid was for phase one work which consists of the construction of bulk earthworks and municipal services.
Ministry spokesperson Chrispin Matongela said the contract termination was enforced when Mansudae Overseas Projects was ordered to leave Namibia due to United Nations sanctions on North Korea.
Mansudae has over the years won government tenders. This includes the construction of the National History Museum, Heroes’ Acre, State House, the defence headquarters and the shadowy ammunition factory.
“The dismissal of Mansudae Overseas Projects caused a serious delay to the project,” said Matongela.
He said an “unanticipated large hard rock that did not show on the geotechnical study” caused a lot of delays and increased the cost of the project.
The Namibian has reported about concerns about the plot since 2012. At the time, government officials were divided on whether to construct the facility at Prosperita or at Wanaheda.
Former agriculture permanent secretary Andrew Ndishishi had a role in setting up this project around 2011 but he expressed concerns about the location of the plot.
Ndishishi had then proposed that only the Fresh Produce Retail Market be considered for the land in Wanaheda while the industrialised component be built in Prosperita.
This, according to Ndishishi, was also suitable since the long-term plan utilises the railway which runs adjacent to the site in Prosperita.
When The Namibian visited the site this week construction on phase two had not started. Phase one also has nothing much to show apart from a boundary wall.
The ministry’s spokesperson said there are no funds to continue the project and the ministry is looking into other means to finance the completion of the project.
“The project had to be put on hold due to budgetary constraints,” Matongela said.
He added that the contract of the consultants Burmeister and Partners (Pty) Ltd has not been terminated. “It has been put on hold until funds for the project are secured or the project is handed over to a private public partnership initiative,” he said.
Business people and their partners appear to be the biggest beneficiaries of the project.
But just across the abandoned structure, about 300 meters from the abandoned facility, resides Johanna Fredericks (53) who migrated to Windhoek in search of a better life 20 years ago.
“I am almost 60 but I have never owned land. We live in a shack. My children are grown up but I don’t see them owning land either yet the government is spending so much money on incomplete projects,” she said.
The domestic worker with five children said she earns about N$750 a month.
“We don’t have a life here. We are Namibians but we don’t have benefits. We are suffering specifically here in Havana,” she said.
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