Reho Spa transfer in high gear
The ministry of environment and tourism has requested Treasury approval for returning the Reho Spa resort to the Rehoboth town council.
According to the environment ministry's deputy permanent secretary, Seimy Christoph-Shidute, Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) had requested the ministry to approve the transfer.
NWR is still the legal owner of the hot-springs resort. It signed a 12-year lease agreement with the Rehoboth Community Trust in 2014, but since then the facility has deteriorated.
At the time the Trust promised that renovations would start in November that year and that the facility would be opened to the public by May 2015. Nothing has materialised, though, and the resort continues to deteriorate.
Plans to renovate the facility have been postponed time and again while the Rehoboth Community Trust has been looking for investors. Yesterday the trust's chairperson, Ronald Kubas, said he knew nothing of the latest developments.
“I have noticed in the papers. Unfortunately I don't have any detailed comment at this stage as I have not received any official correspondence in this regard from NWR, nor any official notice to either transfer or [terminate] the current lease agreement to a third party,” said Kubas.
He added that numerous requests to extend the lease period to a minimum of 30 years had fallen on deaf ears. According to him, a longer lease is needed to make the project viable, considering the extent of renovations required.
“Large-scale financial investments in the project will be [at] substantial risk without proper arrangements on security of tenure or ability to register notarial bonds,” he said.
Nathalia /Goagoses, the ministerial representative in the Rehoboth town council, instructed her staff last week to begin cleaning and renovating the resort.
At a community meeting on Sunday she informed residents that she was only waiting for the paperwork to be finalised to have the Reho Spa handed over to the council.
She was scheduled to meet with potential investors this week with the aim of getting the resort up and running by December.
JEMIMA BEUKES
According to the environment ministry's deputy permanent secretary, Seimy Christoph-Shidute, Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) had requested the ministry to approve the transfer.
NWR is still the legal owner of the hot-springs resort. It signed a 12-year lease agreement with the Rehoboth Community Trust in 2014, but since then the facility has deteriorated.
At the time the Trust promised that renovations would start in November that year and that the facility would be opened to the public by May 2015. Nothing has materialised, though, and the resort continues to deteriorate.
Plans to renovate the facility have been postponed time and again while the Rehoboth Community Trust has been looking for investors. Yesterday the trust's chairperson, Ronald Kubas, said he knew nothing of the latest developments.
“I have noticed in the papers. Unfortunately I don't have any detailed comment at this stage as I have not received any official correspondence in this regard from NWR, nor any official notice to either transfer or [terminate] the current lease agreement to a third party,” said Kubas.
He added that numerous requests to extend the lease period to a minimum of 30 years had fallen on deaf ears. According to him, a longer lease is needed to make the project viable, considering the extent of renovations required.
“Large-scale financial investments in the project will be [at] substantial risk without proper arrangements on security of tenure or ability to register notarial bonds,” he said.
Nathalia /Goagoses, the ministerial representative in the Rehoboth town council, instructed her staff last week to begin cleaning and renovating the resort.
At a community meeting on Sunday she informed residents that she was only waiting for the paperwork to be finalised to have the Reho Spa handed over to the council.
She was scheduled to meet with potential investors this week with the aim of getting the resort up and running by December.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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