By: Marshallino Beukes
The urban development minister’s office had advised Rehoboth Town Council not to issue the US$6,5m guarantee letter to Jaquin Consulting Agency until they had resolved all matters.
Rehoboth Town Council issued a letter for a guarantee to the developer, Jaquin Consulting Agency and Developers cc, which stated that in case they fail to refund or pay back US$6,5m, the council would “take full responsibility and repay the full amount plus interest.”
Jaquin Consulting applied to develop townlands measuring 71.7 ha.
It turns out now that the urban development minister’s office advised the Rehoboth council that “the allocation to Jaquin Consulting Agency cc be put on hold until all above matters have been resolved.”
The ministry is against allocating such a vast piece of land to one individual/entity. They advised the council to subdivide the land, allocate it to multiple developers for different housing categories, and give the public equal opportunities to develop the town.
The ministry further advised the council to advertise available erven/land for transparency.
Objections lodged against the approval of the application by individuals and entities (the United People’s Movement was one of them) was also of concern to the ministry.
This letter that contained the advice is dated 3 November 2021, signed by the executive director, Nghidinua Daniel, and addressed to the Rehoboth chief executive officer Simeon Kanime.
In another letter addressed to urban development minister Erastus Utoni, dated 9 November 2021, the Rehoboth mayor, Enrico Junius, assured the minister that “all concerns have been addressed.”
He then requests the minister to grant the Rehoboth Town Council ministerial approval to sell the property to Jaquin Consulting Agency cc.
The Rehoboth mayor, in the letter, further explained to the minister that “Rehoboth has vast townland, approximately 63 000 hectares of virgin land; hence the sale of 71.7 hectares will not affect the prospects of growth and expansion of the town.”
Junius also disagreed that 71.7 hectares of land is too big and cannot be allocated.
The mayor informed the minister that it had been resolved but only mentioned two of the complainants regarding the objections lodged. In the ministry’s letter, at least three more are mentioned.
Meanwhile, a reliable source revealed that the “guarantee letter” already reached the council during January this year, but they only took action after it surfaced on social media.
The source further claims that since the letter surfaced, the Rehoboth town council has not contacted the developer and doesn’t respond to the developer’s phone calls.
