Ongwediva denies preferential land sales

WITH the introduction of incentives to investors in the form of subsidised prices for land at Ongwediva, the town has grown by leaps and bounds, changing its face from a residential backwater of Oshakati to a fully fledged commercial and industrial town.

This is, however, also erupting in an apparent scramble for land, which some disgruntled prospective investors say is being sold unfairly. Complaints have been received that land is sold differentially at N$17,50 to N$91 per square meters, with charges that land sold by way of private transaction is priced at a cheaper rate than that sold by the local tender board. Corporate communications officer of the town council Andreas Uutoni said land sold at N$17,50 is located in the town’s extensions 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. These extensions, he said, are areas which were already inhabited before the proclamation of Ongwediva into a town in 1992. Uutoni said the price of land is determined by the service cost, saying that extensions 12 to 17, which are priced at N$17,50 per square meters, are not fully serviced. The town council has just recently formalised the areas, with considerations given to the structures in place. The town council has adopted the valuation roll price of N$35 per square meters for extensions 4 and 5, where a new hotel establishment, the Hotel Destiny cc, has acquired a plot. Prices differ from one extension to the next, but explained that the N$35 per square meter in extensions 4 and 5 is applicable across the board irrespective of whether the purchaser is a small and medium sized business outfit or a corporate client. ‘We have incentives in place in the form of a reasonable price of land to attract potential investors in a short period of time and make it the preferred town of investment in north of Namibia,’ Uutoni said. The highest price per square meter in Ongwediva is N$91, and the price of N$78,50 per square meters is only applicable for extension 11 only, which is based on the development and servicing cost since extension 11 is fully serviced with water, electricity, street lights, tarred roads, and so on. Uutoni said the invitation of the tender for land in extension 11 recently was based on the highest bidder, but not the price of land per square meter. Asked if the town council was not short changing itself by selling land by way of private treaty at a lower price of N$17,50 and N$78,50 per square meters respectively, Uutoni responded in the negative. His argument was that the purchaser would invest in the town on a long-term basis, while paying rates and taxes and for other municipal services, adding that as such, the shortfall of a lower price would be covered by these payments in due course. The town has so far attracted a number of big companies such as the Roads Authority regional head office, Unam’s information and communications technology and engineering faculty, NamWater’s bulk water storage facility reservoir, the privately-owned Rockwell Centre and T&C cold storage facilities. Currently under construction are the Oshana regional mall and the Ongwediva commercial centre, which are both private enterprises. Uutoni said not all properties are sold on tender because the local authority law makes provision for three ways in which town councils can dispose of land, which includes auctions, tenders, and private treaty.