WALVIS BAY – Namibians should not only applaud the government for the envisaged N$42 billion Mass Housing Development programme, but should capitalise on the massive economic opportunities that would come with the project.
Namibians should use the housing initiative as a tool to accelerate economic growth by actively participating in the manufacturing of equipment and materials to be used in the construction of the houses, said the mayor of Swakopmund Juuso Kambueshe when addressing Swakopmund residents last week. The ambitious mass housing initiative was unveiled on September 09 by the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, the retired Major-General Charles Namholoh. Government intends to build 185 000 houses by 2030 to mitigate the current nationwide 100 000 units housing deficit through the mass housing development programme.
Kambuehse said materials such as roof sheets, door handles, tiles and various other essentials to construct houses will be needed and Namibians should look at the possibility of supplying such items to the housing programme. “There are endless opportunities for all, if we just think outside the box. Young entrepreneurs should be proactive and make use of such opportunities. This massive housing project is not only there to provide housing we can ride on its back and use it as a tool for our own economic emancipation,” Kambueshe said, adding that Namibia is blessed with many raw materials that can be used in manufacturing. “We do not need to import tiles, door frames and handles to name a few from other countries, while we have the resource here to manufacture them.
Let us experiment with our own raw materials and see what we can manufacture locally rather than importing it. This will bring about so many benefits in term of social development, employment creation and economic growth. We are not only being given the opportunity to own homes, but also the opportunity to accelerate our own economic growth,” Kambueshe said. The programme will be launched officially next month by President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who is also the chairman of the National Committee of the Mass Housing Development Programme. The programme will be executed in two phases. The first phase of the programme is to be implemented during the first two years 2013/14 and 2014/15, which would constitute the pilot phase targeting urban centres in the 14 regions, thereafter the programme would be rolled out to other localities during the second phase which will run up to 2030.
Last month Namoloh said the challenge to provide housing should not just be rhetoric and that government will be using a dual tendering system, the Namibian Housing Entreprise (NHE) tendering system and government’s centralised procurement system to adhere to the time frame. The NHE, mandated to build low-cost houses, will implement the revolutionary housing plan, the biggest of its kind ever to be launched in the country. According to Namoloh the funding model for the housing scheme would entail debt financing through local and foreign institutions.
By Eveline de Klerk