Fund unlocking urban land value

As part of conceited efforts to meet the demand for serviced land, mainly as a result of rapid rural-urban migration, the Old Mutual Midina Fund has invested in excess of N$250 million to unlock urban land value through funding various projects.
Projects include the servicing of erven in Extension one and two in Langstrand as well as funding the National Housing Enterprise to service land in Otjomuise and construction of more than 200 affordable houses.
Funding is in line with its investment mandate to bridge the growing gap between the costs of servicing land, and the resources available.
Seeing a substantial increase in the need for serviced land in the main urban centres of Namibia, other interventions include a Public Private Partnership initiative with the City of Windhoek and Acacia Investments.
Old Mutual Midina Fund has provided about N$120 million for the next 12 to18 months to speed up land delivery in the middle and low income areas of Windhoek.
According to Levana Cloete, consultant communications officer of Old Mutual, the advantage of the funding approach is that it maximises the use of private sector skills and capital to improve the levels of efficiency, effectiveness and adequacy of water supply, sanitation, roads infrastructure and electrification in municipal areas.
“Midina’s funding model has the potential to play a significant role in reducing local government service delivery backlogs, because it is a means of enabling municipalities – even those with weaker balance sheets, to ensure quality service delivery through off-balance sheet funding arrangements, in the form of co-development agreements,” she added.
Cloete also said that quality infrastructure is a fundamental requirement to ensuring that Namibia meets its Millennium Development Goals.
“A large number of Namibian people currently lack access to basic necessities such as running water, sewage reticulation, energy provision, transportation and communication services, which directly impacts their life expectancy, their ability to find employment and overall quality of life,” she said.