Africa-Press – Uganda. Kampala City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago last week opened a can of worms when he revealed that the government was in the process of purchasing 10 acres of land in a city suburb at Shs370b.
First, it is important that the Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, Ms Minsa Kabanda, said they had written to the government valuer to establish the actual value of the land owned by businessman Bosco Muwonge before any transactions can be effected.
But we must dig to the bottom of this practice of overpricing property, which often leads to loss of taxpayers’ money.
At a cost of $10 million (Shs37 billion) per acre, the Kisenyi land price rivals the unit cost of prime places in cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and London.
A Ugandan real estate dealer based in South Africa told this newspaper on Sunday that 200 acres in Cape Town’s Stellenbosch—one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in South Africa—have an asking rate of $26 million. The Kisenyi piece could be one of the most expensive on the globe.
We have seen cases of this nature before, such as the National Social Security Fund purchase of land in Temangalo close to two decades ago. Many examples abound.
But this calls for serious reflection, especially in a liberal economy like ours.
Many of these cases of overpriced properties sold to the government always come to the public knowledge through whistleblowing or leaked documents.
There may be instances where public officials collude with property owners to inflate prices and make the government pay with the intention of getting a kickback.
How many such cases may have happened and no one brought them to the attention of the public?
This then points us in only one direction; a solution to exorbitant property rates.
The high prices of property, especially land, do not only affect those intended for sale to the government. Many land dealers across the country have hiked prices of land
The government in 2014 said they were in the process of establishing rules to guide in property pricing. The Director of Housing ministry of Lands, Ms Agnes Kadama Kalibala, then told Daily Monitor that the guidelines would arrest the ‘senseless’ prices that most properties are being sold at. She said: “As we speak now there is no control on the property prices, that is why you hear of those cases—exaggerated prices for properties.”
Whereas it is the right of every property owner to determine their price, we need a general guideline on property prices. And it should be made public.
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