Nakawa-Naguru investor blasts IGG

Feb 11, 2009

A LAWYER for the Nakawa-Naguru estate redeveloper, Opec Prime Properties Ltd, has criticised the Inspector General of Government, Justice Faith Mwondha.

By Barbara Among

A LAWYER for the Nakawa-Naguru estate redeveloper, Opec Prime Properties Ltd, has criticised the Inspector General of Government, Justice Faith Mwondha.

“The current IGG’s understanding of the economics of investment is severely detrimental to future investments,” said David Mpanga in an answer to Mwondha’s report.
Mpanga said she lied in her report on the Nakawa-Naguru procurement process.

In the report, Mwondha said the sh600b project was fraudulently allocated to the company by the local government ministry.
She also recommended that the developer be blacklisted for five years, the investment license be revoked and the Public Private Partnership Agreement be cancelled.

“The IGG has failed to understand the difference between a procurement under the PPDA Act of 2003 and an investment under the Investment Act. She has totally misconstrued the sourcing and identification process of a developer for the Naguru-Nakawa development project as procurement,” Mpanga said.

The controversial project has seen Mwondha lock horns with local government minister Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire over the fate of the tenants.
The company, however, maintains that the tenants must vacate before construction starts.

“This is in line with the Public Health Act and NEMA (National Environment Management Authority) requirements since it would be unsafe for families to stay on a condemned site as construction takes place. The dangerous reality of leaving the tenants on such a massive construction site is what the IGG ought to appreciate.”

The company questioned why Mwondha had not queried how Warid, Aya Brothers and Kingdom Holdings belonging to Prince Alwalid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, were given investment licenses and offered land with a 99-year lease in the city centre.

It also accused Mwondha of not telling the President and the public that the High Court had dismissed the case of the tenants with costs to the Government and the developer.

Mpanga said the company was willing to guide tenants interested in accessing mortgage for the units when completed.

He said the agreement signed with the Government could not be cancelled neither could the license be revoked, saying it was done in accordance with the Constitution.
Opec Prime Properties Limited belongs to two London-based real estate developers.

When Mwondha accused the company of not having any fixed assets, Mpanga said Mwondha “failed to understand that what she calls fixed assets in “her typical mechanistic sense” such as buildings, are actually the developer’s current assets in stock.

Opec Prime Properties plans to develop the site into a town and thereafter sell the buildings to the public.

The redevelopment of the estates was initiated by Kampala City Council in 1997, but the Government took over the project in 2005 following a row between the council and tenants over rights.

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