The Port-Louis municipality laid many hopes on the Garden Tower sale to the Government at Rs 416 million but has quickly been overtaken. The city hall keeps Rs 50 million of shares at the DBM Properties Ltd, the building’s owner and some counsellors are waiting for two levels of the Garden Tower to be transferred to the municipality’s ownership after the sale. However, the DBM Properties Ltd decided to liquidate everything. Otherwise, the company would not have been able to get the necessary funds to pay back the SICOM who provided the funds for the project’s realisation.
With the repurchase of several of the buildings levels by the Government, DBM Properties is left with properties which could provide it with Rs 12 million per year. The first floor shall be rented to the same company managing the Caddy Plus hypermarket. This rental shall make Rs600 000 of revenue. As for the first floor, it should host the food court and the second and third floors, parking areas. The municipality will have a share of the dividends, proportional to its initial investment. “The municipality indeed lost money but it escaped the humiliation of property seizure due to bad depts.” According to a city hall speaker.
The Garden’s Tower sale is hence the only possible option regarding the current situation. In fact, the probable buyers were scarce once the building’s construction was achieved. This is due to the competition. There is a huge number of office spaces in the capital city, in addition of those found in Ebène.
The municipality holds 20% of the building and its only choice was to agree to the majority’s decision, which voiced its approval according to the formula proposed by the Government. Hence, it frees itself from all hypothecary charges
