By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
NAPSA SELLING PRIME BUILDINGS AND PLOTS
…strain to fund Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway and pay-outs of pre-retirement benefits,all political decisions, take a financial toll….
We have strongly criticised the forced decision to make the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) and the Workers’ Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB) fund a consortium of Chinese companies to upgrade the 327 km Lusaka-Ndola Dual Carriageway.
The two social security pension funds have been directed to lend $300million to Macro Ocean Investment Consortium that comprises AVIC International Project Engineering, Zhenjiang Communications Construction Group and China Railway Seventh Group.
Under normal circumstances, the chinese Consortium must bring in the investment as this is a Public Private Partnership.
But instead public funds will be used to fund a private entity to do a public road.
The Consortium has already taken over collection of road tolls and will do so for the next 25 years.
Coming from paying pre-retirement partial payments of $650million to eligible members, NAPSA is clearly cash strapped.
NAPSA has put up for sale, some of its premium plots of land and buildings in Lusaka. Some buildings were bought in the 70s and straddle seven administrations of Presidents!
But this is a neo-liberal government that believe in privatization and the limited role of state-owned and public enterprises in the economy.
I expected NAPSA to announce investment in the upgrade and extensive rehabilitation of these building to attract premium rentals as most buildings have fallen into dilapidation.
NAPSA’S LIQUIDITY
The National Pension Scheme Authority says it has invested over 69 percent of the fund into liquid assets which makes it able to meet its financial obligations either from fresh funds from contribution collections or maturities from its liquid instruments.
NAPSA has an investment portfolio of K71 billion ($3.5billion), which has been invested in diverse asset classes including fixed and liquid assets to meet benefit payout obligations as and when they occur.
The Authority is inviting offers for the purchase of the following properties;
1. STAND 56 CORNER OF CHA CHA CHA & NKWAZI ROADS – LUSAKA
The property is a commercial building comprising of a single storey retail shop and warehouse, located at the corner of Cha Cha Cha and Nkwazi roads, in the Central Business District of Lusaka. The property sits on a land extent of about 0.2048 hectares (0.5061 Acres). The reserve sale price is
ZMW11 million.
2. STAND 693 IMPALA HOUSE, CHA CHA CHA ROAD – LUSAKA
The property is a commercial building comprising of an office building with retail shops on the ground floor and two warehouses, located on Cha Cha Cha road, in the Central Business District of Lusaka. The property sits on a land extent of about 0.1951 hectares (0.482 Acres). The reserve sale price is
ZMW 23 million.
3. STAND 669/A, 700 & 701 SIAZA HOUSE, CHA CHA CHA ROAD –LUSAKA
The property is a commercial building comprising of retail shops and a warehouse on a continuous plot, located on Cha Cha Cha road, in the Central
Business District of Lusaka. The property sits on a land extent of about 0.3147 hectares (0.7776 Acres). The reserve sale price is ZMW 16 million.
4. PLOT 1022 CAIRO ROAD (JUST CHICKEN), CAIRO ROAD – LUSAKA
The property is a commercial building comprising of retail shops and a warehouse, located on Cairo Road, in the Central Business District of Lusaka.The property sits on a land extent of about 0.0975 hectares (0.2409 Acres).
The reserve sale price is ZMW 9 million.
5. STAND 3520 & 3521 LUANGWA HOUSE, CAIRO ROAD – LUSAKA
The property is a double storey commercial building, located on Cairo road, in the Central Business District of Lusaka. The property sits on a land extent of
about 0.1896 Acres. The reserve sale price is ZMW 17 million.
6. STAND NO. 4651, NAPSA KALULUSHI HOUSING COMPLEX SCHOOL
The property is a commercial property comprising of a school, located in the NAPSA Housing Complex, in Kalulushi District. The property is a single storey
building sitting on a land extent of about 2.4710 Acres. The sale of the property is on condition that the purchaser demolishes the school structure at their own cost.
The reserve sale price is ZMW 3, 232, 000.00 million
The same tactics. He will fund his foreign friends to buy these buildings. Before we know it he will own the entire Lusaka under his criminal friend’s names.
So k950m worth of expenditure will be funded from k70.3m of asset sales?
Only mwamba and pf can use such logic!!!
A climb to Mt Everst begins with a single step.
How much can Napsa recover from these
Dilapidated buildings?
It is more expensive to keep them.
Look at their values?
I don’t understand how PF people think because they fail to understand even simple things. Surely NAPSA’s participation in this project is not free but will generate money for the institution. If anything we should encourage more Zambian institutions to participate in such projects so that they make money from them and it also means most of the money will remain in the country unlike if the project is funded by outsiders.
Just to educate Mr. Mwamba and his followers, this arrangement is very beneficial to NAPSA because they will recoup their money and profits (interest paid by the concessioner) on top of that and I don’t think a right thinking person can complain about such a good arrangement.
Conversely, if the project was funded by outsiders, all the money would have gone outside the country to the funders but this will not be the case with this arrangement.
And just to clear the air, government will get a portion of the toll fees for the said concession period so Mr. Mwambs should not cheat people that all the money will go to the concessioner.
You cannot own a commercial asset for ever and ever as time to sell will always come. To start with, these assets aren’t for ever; only the land they’re standing on is. The assets aren’t being given for free. In other words, NAPSA is just converting its wealth from illiquid form to liquid form. And how many times has NAPSA sold real estate? They have been doing it for quite a while. The Zambia Revenue Authority head office was formerly owned by NAPSA. It was sold to ZRA when the pension fund saw it fit.
We do agree tht govt will getting a portion of the toll fees as they being collected. But wat doesn’t mek sense is napsa funding the project on behalf of the so called investor. In the real world, 1 wud xpekt an investor 2 bring his own money and construct the road 4 us. It’s lyk u want 2 build a house 4 yoself then i ask u 2 giv me the total cost of the house on “loan”, i build the house and u become my tenant in a house which u funded. DOESN’T ADD UP UNLESS U R OF A DERANGED MIND !
It makes a lot of business sense to have NAPSA participate and fund the project instead of the investor or foreign entity funding the project.
Let me illustrate this with figures, say NAPSA contributes $400 million on the project and gets an interest on the principal of $100 million meaning NAPSA will get $500 million and all of this money will remain in the country but if a foreign investor or entity is the one which funds the project, it means the whole $500 million will go back to the investor.
Surely isn’t this arrangement good for NAPSA and our country?
I now agree with those who claim that cheating and lying comes naturally to Mr Mwamba. He seems to be the character the late Emmanuel Mulemena sang about people who cheat needlessly. Ubela watama. Ubufi bubi.
Some one has even warned Zambians that Mwamba most likely never told the truth regarding Chilubas death, after all he was the only one present and is the only one who knows what really happened.
Professional Spin Doctor. No Eyelids to blink!!