460 new erven for Academia

Development of open land in the Windhoek commons is picking up speed fast with two major projects on the cards for Pionierspark and Academia.
In Academia, the City of Windhoek has contracted Namibia Construction to carry out civil works for the Academia Extension 1 housing project, a project that will see 460 new erven being made available to the public.

The City said work on the civil works for the Academia Extension 1 project started in June 2012 and is expected to be completed next month.
About N$108 million has been budgeted for the project which will see almost 500 new erven being made available at an auction scheduled to take place sometime in March/April next year.
Although the City could not reveal how much money it expects to realise from the sale of the erven,  Lydia Amutenya, the city spokesperson, said however the city is expecting that the money to be raised through this Public Private Partnership project will be equal or more than the upset price.
The Academia Extension 1 project will go a long way in easing housing supply challenges facing the country and Windhoek in particular. Despite Namibia being one of the most sparsely populated countries with a population density of 2.6 people per square kilometre, the country continues to have an insufficient supply of land in municipal areas.
The marked lack of supply has been attributed to the high cost of servicing land, low availability, and high demand due to population growth and urbanisation.
While figures vary, Rowland Brown an economist with the Bank of Namibia puts the housing backlog in the country at 100,000 units.