The Namibia Economist

Mutjavikua wants emergency housing plan

The shortage of housing in the Erongo region remains a challenge and an emergency plan is needed to address the situation, Cleophas Mutjavikua, governor of that region said.
In his annual address to the private sector recently, Mutjavikua said the plan must be aimed at building at least 1000 homes and servicing 3000 plots for 2013.
He added that such a plan would demand innovation from local authorities in terms of land delivery and low cost housing construction, and that all stakeholders must work together to provide housing to the poor.
“At the regional authority level, we pass the buck to the local authority. The local authority will conveniently say “we don’t have money to service the land and central government should intervene in this expensive venture.” Employers will say that their aim is to make maxim in profit and housing provision is not their competency. The employees will just put a ‘pondok’ up and claim that they don’t have housing allowance and so has no other alternative.
“It seems there is a need for divine intervention, rather than to defy the traditional way of land servicing and to find new horizons for mass housing construction,” said Mutjavikua.
The regional council initiated a low cost housing project in order to address the shortage.
The mayor of Swakopmund, Rosina //Hoabes, also urged residents who applied for housing through the Build Together Programme, to be patient.
“Yes, it is true that there is a master list with individual names which normally is forwarded to the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development for loan approval when money is available. This list has been doing its rounds in the community and they have been misinforming each other by saying that the names on the list are off the people whose loans have been approved.
This is not the case. No loans have been approved as yet. So, please we would like the community to understand this and if they are not clear they should please come in and talk to the [municipal] officials for clarity,” said //Hoabes.
Last year, the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development reported that there is a backlog of an estimated 92 000 houses since independence.
According to a report released by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) has never met its target of 1 200 houses per year. The NHE has been delivering an average of 253 houses per annum between 2003 and 2011, the report indicated.
Housing and sanitation was allocated a total of N$4.1 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

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