Sale of land by auction stops

The City of Windhoek has suspended the sale of land by auction with immediate effect. This was  announced by Anges Kafula, Mayor of the City of Windhoek at the City’s monthly council meeting on Wednesday evening.
“While we are engaging in discussions with our government on the amendment of relevant laws, the sales of land will now only be through private treaty or tender,” she said.
According to Kafula, the shortage of serviced land in the City is attributed to three main factors, rapid urbanisation, bureaucracy in the approval process of land and lack of resources at the Council’s disposal.
“This is a national challenge and not unique to Windhoek only. It is unfortunate that an application for land especially for a major development takes more than a year to approve, due to existing red tape in the approval process,” she added.
She stated that a local authority can approve the sale for land immediately but has to submit the same application to the Namibia Planning Advisory Board (NAMPAB) who should give the final approval in terms of town planning and cadastral procedures.
She further said before approval by NAMPAB, no development can take place. For the past few years NAMPAB has not been able to meet regularly. This practically means delayed development and delayed creation of the much needed jobs.
“It is for these reasons that Local Authorities across the country through the national association ALAN in 2007 submitted a proposal to the government on Local Authority Reforms that will repeal old laws that have become obsolete to address the challenges of today,” she added.
She further appealed to the government to discuss the White Paper on the Local Authority Reforms so that the Local Authority Act 23 of 1992 can be amended to suit today’s demand on municipal service delivery.
“We however would like to thank our government for providing funds under the TIPEEG programme the last financial year, which the City is using to service land in low cost areas. We have also noted with appreciation from the National Budget presented by the Minister of Finance, Hon Saara Kuugogelwa-Amadhila an allocation of N$1.9 billion to housing development. We are hopeful that the City will also benefit from these national resources,” she added.