Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Okahandja Town Council plans to deliver 3 252 erven for residential, business and institutional purposes. This follows the 2020 lifting of a moratorium on the sale of land, put in place by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.
The ministry put the moratorium in place pending investigations into the sale of land at the town in 2015.
During the investigations, in a letter seen by The Namibian and addressed to the mayor at the time, councillor Valerie Aron, the ministry found that 99% of sales and other transactions involving land at the town were done without ministerial approval.
“In some instances, this has happened without council resolutions. There are also other irregularities,” the letter stated.
The minister of urban and rural development at the time, Peya Mushelenga, lifted the moratorium with the aim of unlocking access to land at the town, because of the large population living at the Five Rand informal settlement.
The lifting of the moratorium was accompanied by conditions to ensure that there were no irregularities in the allocation of land.
In a letter addressed to the minister’s representative at the town council, Linus Garoëb, and seen by The Namibian, the conditions include ensuring all transactions first go through council and that a council resolution is obtained, as dictated by law.
“All transactions must be advertised for transparency purposes. The council must enter into a deed of sale with all applicants whose applications have been granted by the council as well as ministerial approval. Land be allocated on a first-time buyer basis and one residential erf per person,” said Mushelenga.
Okahandja municipality CEO Alfons Tjitombo confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that the town council plans to develop the land soon. At Ekunde Extension 5, 292 residential erven have already been allocated.
“There are big areas that we envisage to establish in line with the Urban and Regional Planning Act No. 5 of 2018. Before that we will establish the need for land so that the planning is aligned with the act,” he said.
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