Having handed over 40 completed houses in Otjiwarongo recently, NHE last weekend handed over 81 more houses in Outapi in yet another housing miles stone that will contribute to the reduction of the national housing backlog.
Urban and rural development minister, Erastus Uutoni at the handover event expressed delighted to be back in Outapi at a site where he had been two years ago in July 2020 to hand over the site for construction to commence.
“It was an open area of land with no services and no houses and today just look at the transformation done. We should all be proud and celebrate the efforts we are making. It is evident that even in these challenging economic times, government takes housing seriously and through our institutions like the NHE and Town Councils, we are persistent in dignifying the lives of our citizens around the country. It for this reason that we are leaving no stone unturned and continuously find ways to cater for all our people. Our effort in upgrading informal settlements is one such way of freeing our people from shacks and improve their quality of life within their financial means,” said Uutoni.
In the project, NHE partnered with Tona Trade Holdings, a reputable local entity of the town, to deliver 81 houses to the community of Outapi. The partnership is based on a Turnkey model, where NHE provides the land to the contractor who brings in the financial and technical expertise. NHE then sells the houses to pay the contractor. For this project, NHE first had to service the land, since the area had no bulk services. This costed N$9 million, while the actual construction of houses costed N$ 29 million. NHE has already paid about 85% of what is owed.
“The National Housing Policy and other housing frameworks are products of Government’s desire and declaration that housing is one of its developmental priorities, to ensure that those households excluded from the decent and conventional housing development mechanisms are given the opportunity to access land, housing and services whilst concurrently creating an enabling environment for the housing market.
I like emphasizing that the quality of the houses should be prioritized and there should be no room for contractors who do not deliver to the expected quality, because that way we will be short-changing our residents,” Uutoni said further stating that people take out long term loans to buy these houses and therefore should be guaranteed of the long term quality of their houses.
“As for the income groups that we are targeting, quality should be balanced with affordability. Colleagues, our people are not looking for unaffordable luxury in these hard financial times. Our people only need decent, affordable houses that are well constructed, even if it means some finishes must be excluded from these houses.
“I keep saying most of our people can put tiles and cupboards in their houses on their own, with their time. Within 3 to 5 years, you will already see a house with tiles, cupboards, geysers etc. But when these finishes are included in a 20 years home loan, most people are no longer able to afford the houses,” the minister said.
He went on to say that he was just happy that there is effort and something is being done about the housing situation in the country and not folding arms because of the economic hardships.
“These innovative partnerships can help us make a difference in the lives of our residents. I understand that the NHE is currently busy with 70 houses in Okahao and will also commence a 33 houses project in Tsandi. Let us keep the momentum colleagues from all these surrounding towns so that we can achieve a lot as a collective. Thanks to the Local Authorities and private sector players that are really seeing value in collaborative efforts in housing projects such as these ones,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, NHE Board chairperson, Sam SHIVUTE said a total of 344 people from Outapi community and surrounding areas such as Anamulenge, Elim, Okalongo, Tsandi, Okahao, Oshikuku, Ruacana and Tsandi were employed on this project.
This included the youth between the ages of 17-35, as well as thirty-five women among them.
“The cost involved and the benefits of our projects as I indicated demonstrate the extent to which the NHE goes to provide affordable quality houses, and also in the process contribute to the locality’s economic development,” he said.
He also said that whenever NHE hands over houses, they get a lot of people asking: “When are you building in our town?”
“The NHE is ready to build houses in every town. We should however understand that this is a collective undertaking that is not only made possible by the NHE alone. That is because the NHE should build houses that people can afford to buy.
“This means the input cost for building houses should be as minimal as possible for the houses to be affordable. Local Authorities that recognise this, make the cost reduction possible by availing land to the NHE at a very minimal price. This is the answer to why we continue to work with and build houses in towns like Outapi, where the Local Authority realistically consider their resident’s buying power whenever offering land to the NHE. In the end, cheaper land means NHE can build cheaper houses for the residents,” responded SHIVUTE.