Chamwe Kaira
Local investors who do not have financial capacity to bid for the leasing of Green Schemes may form joint ventures with foreign investors to bid for the leasing of the Green Schemes.
The investors will be required that to access to, or has available, liquid assets, unencumbered real assets, lines of credit, and other financial means sufficient to meet the investment value requirement ranging from N$550 million to N$650 million.
“The amounts required are not exaggerated or blindly put there, they’re real costs need to run each green scheme. These amounts vary from one scheme to another,” Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Jona Musheko told Observer Money this week.
Musheko said the process to lease the Green Schemes is ongoing and evaluation of each green scheme bid is done individually.
“So far, Uvungu-Vungu Dairy Project has been awarded. We are finalising the process on this. For others we advertised recently. Their evaluation will commence thereafter closing,” said Musheko.
Investors both local and international seeking to lease the Green Schemes are required to have up to N$650 million in liquid assets.
“The green schemes have the potential. What has been the most problem is financing these schemes. Apart from those going to investors, we are changing the management model to be more efficient and suitable for farm operations. We already have about two green schemes under private investors, and they are doing fairly good,” said Musheko.
The Green Schemes which the government has offered for leasing include the Katima-Liselo irrigation Project which has a total of 2500 hectares and is close to the Zambezi River and situated in the Zambezi Region.
The other scheme is the Zone Irrigation Project which is 1800 hectares and is situated near Nkurenkuru in the Kavango West Region near the Kavango River.
The third scheme up for leasing is the Tandjieskoppe Irrigation Project near Noordoewer in the //Kharas Region.
Investors interested in leasing the Katima-Liselo irrigation Project will have to demonstrate that they have access to, or has available, liquid assets, unencumbered real assets, lines of credit, and other financial means sufficient to meet the investment value requirement of N$550 million.
Those interested in leasing the Zone Irrigation Project will need to have a financial capacity of meeting
the investment value requirement of N$600 million for the subject contract net of the applicant’s other commitments.
Leasing the Tandjieskoppe Irrigation Project is the most expensive of the three schemes and will require an investment value requirement of N$650 Million.
