Uganda’s National Social Security Fund (NSSF) says it will embark on the construction of low cost houses in the area within the next five years. This will be done on the 830.68 of its land the firm redeemed recently.
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The land, which had been lost was recovered only recently and the NSSF is taking the opportunity to construct low cost houses.
The managing director of NSSF, Mr Richard Byarugaba said there is a huge housing deficit in Kampala City and its surrounding towns and if the construction of the low cost houses is completed it will help in solving the problem.
The NSSF uses members fund to make investments on their behalf in government securities (treasury bonds and treasury bills), it also invests members funds in equities listed on the stock exchange and real estates. By far, the NSSF is the largest institutional investor in government securities (meaning it is the largest domestic lender to government).
The NSSF management, in a press statement issued on Tuesday, said the recovery of the Fund’s interest of 49% of the land, means that the Fund makes a 132 % gain on its initial investment, going by the current market trend. This, according to management, is in line with the Fund’s strategy to restart all stalled real estate projects as well as the National Development Plan to tackle housing deficiency in Uganda.
The development is as a result of a delayed effort by the Fund since 2012 to redeem the Fund’s initial $2.3m investment in Nsimbe Holdings Limited, made in 2004, that had been written off, and convert the Fund’s 49 % shareholding in Nsimbe Estates Limited into land, an asset that the Fund would develop in future.
Last year the High Court endorsed a consent decree between the Fund and Mugoya Estates Limited, the majority shareholder in Nsimbe Holdings Limited, providing that Mugoya Enterprises Limited recognize the interests of NSSF in the joint venture company then called Nsimbe Holdings Limited.
The Fund acquires the Mugoya Estates Limited’s 51% share in the land at Nsimbe, Mugoya Estates Limited offers the Fund first option to purchase its 51% share in the piece of land at market price
In the statement, the NSSF said terms of the consent judgment have been adhered to, and as a result,the Fund has acquired 423.6 acres of prime land at Nsimbe at approximately $ 6m.