2016-11-14Staff Report 2 Walvis Bay - Walvis Bay Municipality has awarded 44 residential erven at Extension 5 behind Tutaleni township to 22 contractors to construct show houses at the harbour town. The selected contractors will construct the houses at their own cost and risk, Urban and Rural Development Minister Sophia Shaningwa said on Friday. Launching the project at Walvis Bay Shaningwa said the construction of the 44 show houses will be considered as a trial for the contactors, as only a selected number will go through to the next phase. According the minister, each contractor will be allocated two erven, on which they will build units in accordance with the building plans and specifications provided by the municipality. After completion of the houses a process of evaluation will follow to ascertain which of the contractors have the capacity to construct a further 900 houses at the town. “We should, however, indicate that the houses should be of high quality and should also be bankable, as we want financial institutions to finance the houses for their clients,” the former governor of Khomas and Omusati regions pointed out. Shaningwa further explained that once the 44 houses have been completed people on Walvis Bay Municipality’s waiting list will have an opportunity to view the houses and select the type they can afford. “We will not build any excess houses, but rather what is wanted and can be afforded,” the minister explained. Shaningwa added that the project stems from a joint initiative by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance, which devised a public-private partnership concept specifically for the purpose of securing affordable housing. She added that a detailed project concept and execution approach have been approved by Cabinet and that the process of identifying two pilot project sites, as well as the appointment of transaction advisors are underway. The plan is for over 1 000 affordable housing units to be built at each of the planned project sites through this initiative. About 2 000 housing units will be constructed at Walvis Bay under the programme. 2016-11-14Staff Report 2
