150 to forfeit Ondangwa plots

About 150 people, who had applied for residential plots at Ondangwa, are set to lose their allocated plots due to non-payment.
Most of those affected were allocated multiple plots, which they are now struggling to pay off.
They include businesspeople and some of Ondangwa political office bearers.
The town council had allocated over 200 plots between 2001 and 2015.
The forfeited plots will be offered to those on the waiting list, according to the town council’s chief executive officer, Ismael Namgongo.
He added that those who were allocated land were informed in writing that they had six months to pay the outstanding amounts.
Namgongo said Ondangwa’s housing backlog stands at 2 500 units in the formal areas and over 1 000 in the informal areas.
The town council is planning to reallocate all the unpaid plots to reduce the housing need.
“The town council is spending a lot of money in an effort to service land and make it available, but those who are allocated land are failing to buy it. I am appealing to people that they must apply for land when they are ready to build and not to for the purpose of speculating with it.
“We want people who are allocated land to pay it off so that we can continue servicing land and make it available to others,” Namgongo said.
Those that have paid a deposit on their allocated plots will be refunded, Namgongo said.
“Land is not an investment which you acquire and wait for someone with money to come then you sell it,” he said.
Namgongo could not provide the total value of the plots, but he said they are worth millions.

ILENI NANDJATO