MASERU — The Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) has awarded a tender to manage the corporation’s real estate to a local property management firm, Morai-Maseela & Company.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the LNDC said it had approved the management’s recommendation to appoint Morai-Maseela & Company “to provide real estate management services to the corporation’s property portfolio”.
The three-year contract was effective starting April 1, 2010.
“The company was appointed on the basis that it best met all the conditions of the ‘request for proposals’ that also included LNDC policy direction issued after the termination of the previous service provider, JHI, in September, 2009,” read the statement.
Morai-Maseela & Company will provide real estate management services to the corporation’s portfolio for the next three years beginning April 1 2010.
The LNDC said all firms chosen to manage its real estate must be registered locally and have at least 51 percent Basotho shareholding in a bid to promote domestic private sector.
Morai-Maseela & Company will manage the real estate owned by the LNDC with a total value of about M500 million.
The LNDC owns factory shells, shopping complexes, office and residential properties around the country.
Morai-Maseela & Company was established in 1991 by four ambitious Basotho entrepreneurs.
The four shareholders include a chartered surveyor, two economists and an engineer all of whom have been in the property market for some time.
“We have been involved in big assignments before this one that we have won recently, including Standard Bank evaluations and various projects throughout Lesotho,” said Morai-Maseela & Company’s managing director Alina Maseela on Tuesday.
She said the company hopes to transfer skills and experience to the youth and build their capacity and enhance their skills.
“We know the property market in Lesotho thoroughly so when we tendered we felt that we had something to offer.
“We believe there is a lot of untapped experience in the country that can be utilised to drive the economy of the country,” Maseela said.
She said the company will be responsible for asset management and “to manage property portfolio as an asset, we will assist our client to maximise returns on their investments”.
