DN housing saga finally settled

The Minister of Justice yesterday signed the deal that puts an end to the long-standing saga involving a real estate developer, DN International, and 19 home owners, who were on the verge of losing their homes after the developer defaulted on the bank loans that financed their construction.FINA Bank put the houses up for auction when the developer breached contract, prompting the owners, some of whom had paid full amount, to petition government for intervention.The bank was in possession of the title deeds as part of the security to the loan.Each home was purchased at a cost of Rwf55 million in 2007.The Government, through the Ministry of Justice and Rwanda Development Board (RDB) took charge of the matter and struck a deal with an investor - B$B Heritage – who agreed to buy out the DN International loan from FINA Bank.As part of the deal, B$B Heritage acquired 33.8 hectares of prime land in Kagugu, Kigali City.The land was initially sold at Rwf 400 million to DN International by two prominent businessmen, , Uzziel Iyamuremye and Paul Muvunyi, however, the developer was left with a balance of Rwf 160 million.In efforts to bring the saga to an end, various stake holders agreed to a compromise.The two businessmen accepted Rwf 80 million as balance of for the land in Kagugu, with FINA bank contributing Rwf 60 million, RDB 10 million and B$B Heritage the remaining Rwf 10 million.“DN paid us only Rwf 240 million. The out standng debt was Rwf 160million of which we had to forego 50 percent to have this issue settled,” Muvunyi said.Rwanda Revenue Authority waived the penalties and interest accrued from the tax debt that had accumulated to Rwf 300 million.Following the agreement, all involved parties yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding and a commitment to implement the agreement.The National Land Centre transferred the title deeds of the Kagugu land to B$B Heritage after changing ownership from the two businessmen to that of the investor.Justice Minister, Tharcisse Karugarama thanked the individuals and institutions for their commitment and agreeing to compromises, acknowledging the hard decisions that had to be made to bring the saga to an end.The acting CEO of RDB, Claire Akamanzi said that the problem caused by DN International were unique and required a unique solution.She urged players in such kind of deals to carry out due diligence prior to committing their money.“Following what happened, everybody must be conscious before entering any venture. People should first know that they are investing with genuine companies while banks should as well be more critical while giving out loans,” Akamanzi said.Theophile Habera, one of the home owners said he was relieved that a solution had finally been arrived at.“Initially we were worried that we would lose our properties that we had fully paid for, but several government agencies worked tirelessly to save our homes and we highly thank them,” Habera said after signing of the agreements.In a previous interview, Jasani Nilesh, a shareholder in B$B Heritage, told The New Times that his company intends to put up a $30 million real estate project in its newly acquired upscale land in Kagugu, Kigali.The Chief Executive Officer of DN International, Nathan Lloyd, is believed to have fled the country after jumping bail. DN International’s debts had by then accumulated to Rwf1.2 billion.