For far too long, low-income earners have been left out of the housing market in the country, for simple reasons of building materials’ price and labour and land being out of their financial reach.
These were the remarks of Minister of Urban and Rural Development Erastus Uutoni on Thursday, during the signing ceremony of contractors tasked to build affordable houses to improve informal settlements in Windhoek.

Uutoni said the high pricing of building materials, construction and land costs that have been a big challenge, forced government and other partners to address the housing backlog.
Government entered into agreements with 10 small companies to build a total 600 affordable houses by June 2021 for people in the informal settlements, starting in Havana.
He said the ministry and its partners managed to reduce the price of both labour and materials for this project through bulk purchasing of building materials from suppliers on a poor-pricing structure as opposed to profit maximisation.

“This will also benefit unemployed vocational school graduates and other youths from the informal settlements on a mixed employment and volunteering or community service principle,” said Uutoni.

He added that the government has chosen small construction companies who prefer sharing the same ambition of changing the landscape in the informal settlements across the country above benefits.

The project which was launched early this month by Vice President Nangolo Mbumba is the brainchild of President Hage Geingob, who declared the living conditions of residents in the informal settlements a humanitarian crisis, and ordered that shacks must go in five years.
On Thursday, the contractors tasked to construct the houses signed contracts with the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, Khomas Regional Council and the City of Windhoek pledging that they will complete the project without delays.
– Nampa