Botswana could unlock significant investment for housing, infrastructure and urban development by making better use of its existing public property portfolio rather than focusing solely on building new assets, according to property professional Mothusi G. Lekgowe.
In an opinion article, Lekgowe argues that institutions such as Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC), Botswana Railways (BR) and local authorities already own large portfolios of residential, commercial and mixed-use properties that generate rental income. He says these assets have qualities that institutional investors, including pension funds, look for, such as stable cash flows, long-term demand and opportunities for large-scale investment.
However, he notes that these property portfolios have largely remained underutilised as investment assets because they have traditionally been managed to meet operational and social objectives rather than to attract private capital.
Lekgowe believes government initiatives such as Catalyst Real Estate (Pty) Ltd and the Education Infrastructure and Management Company Limited (EIMC) could play a key role in restructuring and packaging these assets into investment vehicles. He points to instruments such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), property trusts, securitisation, sale-and-leaseback arrangements and housing bonds as ways to convert existing properties into investment products suitable for institutional investors.
He argues that releasing capital tied up in mature, income-generating properties would allow government and public entities to reinvest in affordable housing, student accommodation, urban renewal projects and bulk infrastructure. According to Lekgowe, this approach would not only deepen Botswana’s capital markets but also help mobilise long-term domestic investment to support the country’s broader economic development.
