SIGNING OF PROJECT FINANCE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN NIPAM AND KEETMANSHOOP MUNICIPALITY
SIGNING OF PROJECT FINANCE PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN NIPAM AND KEETMANSHOOP MUNICIPALITY
NIPAM
and the Keetmanshoop Municipality have signed a partnership agreement to
service 390 residential plots in two of the Keetmanshoop townships, namely Westdene
and Krönlein. Keetmanshoop Municipality through expert facilitation by NIPAM
are looking at sourcing funding estimated at N$ 60 million from various
strategic financial sources to finance the project.
In
terms of the partnership, Keetmanshoop Municipality has appointed NIPAM as
Project Managers to amongst others to conduct housing market studies, prepare
funding proposals and obtain relevant regulatory approvals to ensure the
successful implementation of the project.
NIPAM introduced a
tailor-made training programme on ‘Project Finance for Regional and Local
Authorities’. The programme aims to sensitise the regional councils and local
authorities on project finance as a financing alternative mechanism for
delivering land servicing and affordable housing. The local authorities can do
this by borrowing money from the financial institutions, on a standalone basis
with the financiers relying on future cash flows as the primary source of
repayment (cash flows from the sales of serviced land) rather than making use
of the Local Authority balance sheet.
According
to NIPAM’s Exective Director Ms Maria N. Nangolo, the Keetmanshoop Municipality
requested NIPAM for assistance in the development of the feasibility and
concept to accelerate servicing of land through project finance.
“This
partnership represents a starting point of this initiative and journey which is
guided by national interest and respective mandates of the joint institutions.
Through this journey, we intent to create
and document lessons to be learnt, create case studies which will serve as a blueprint for the
future and also as a key contribution to the body of knolwdge in the discipline
of public administration”.
Project
finance is aimed at assisting public entities (including but not limited to regional
and local authorities) with professional and expert support required to ensure
due diligence in project establishment as well as in project monitoring and
evaluation. The focus is specifically on revenue-generating projects. This partnership
is a major milestone, a trendsetter and a pilot project that will set a
footprint for the rest of the municipalities and local authorities to follow.