Two new Sub-Saharan members for ARC

A convergence of interests is beginning to develop between gated residential estates in South Africa and fast-developing countries in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa says Jeff Gilmour, President of the Johannesburg-based Association of Residential Communities (ARC).

Jeff Gilmour

The latest step in this process is the decision by leading residential golf estates in Botswana and Namibia to secure membership of ARC, which is driving an initiative to apply global best practice in the management of gated residential communities in South Africa and, now, the rest of the Sub-Saharan region.

“The trend will gain traction as more and more gated estates are developed in Sub-Saharan Africa on the back of the region’s rapid (foreign investment-driven) economic growth, which has led to increasing urbanisation; rising incomes; and an expanding middle class,” says Jeff.

The two new Sub-Saharan ARC members are

• Omeya Golf Estate, which is set close to the Auas mountains in the Namibia Bushveld, about 30km from Windhoek, and
• Phakalane Golf Estate in Botswana, an award-winning development situated about 15km from the city centre of Gaborone.

“Together with the prestige Eden Island residential marina in the Seychelles (which joined ARC last year) Omeya and Phakalane form the core of a cross-border membership that will continue to grow,” says Jeff.

“The next participant may well be in Mozambique, where large infrastructural projects – including the development of the country’s Tete coalfields and Pemba offshore natural gas deposits – will be the catalyst for new gated estate communities,” says Jeff.

Oil-rich Nigeria, which already has a proliferation of gated communities, may also come into the loop,” he adds.

ARC assists estate managers and home owners’ associations (HOAs) on about 150 member estates in Southern Africa to apply world class procedures, systems and policies across all disciplines of residential community leadership and management.

This is based on extensive research into, and knowledge of, best practice methods applied on residential communities worldwide.