By Magreth Nunuhe
WINDHOEK – A Rehoboth-based construction company which claimed it could build houses for as little as N$30 000 may have raked in well over N$1 million in registration fees since its launch last year.
The idea behind the hydraform low-cost housing concept is to build low-cost houses anywhere in Namibia at a mind-blowing minimal cost.
When New Era interviewed Hydraform Interlocking Building Solution’s Managing Director, Marius !Kharigub, in January this year, he said they had received over 4 000 applications from interested parties in both urban and rural areas and maintained they would be able to meet the demand by subcontracting to other builders in the construction industry.
It is not clear how many people have since applied for the housing programme almost a year after, as !Kharigub could not be reached for comment on his cellular phone or his land line which was out of order.
But prospective homeowners were asked to pay N$250 as a registration fee for a two-bedroom house, while for a three-bedroom semi-luxury house, applicants forked out N$350. If they opted for a luxury four-bedroom house, it cost N$500 in registration fee.
At the time the company claimed it could build a one-bedroom house of 55 square metres for N$30 000, an 86-square metre two-bedroom house for N$60 000, a three-bedroom house of 93 square metres for N$80 000 and a 115-square metre house of four bedrooms for N$100 000.
Loan repayments would start at N$250 for one-bedroom units to N$1 500 for a luxury four-bedroom house with a geyser, ceiling, tiles, built-in cupboards and one and a half bathrooms and anyone earning from N$1 000 upwards could qualify for a house.
But some of those who registered with the company with high hopes of getting a roof over their heads suspect they may have been taken for a ride as there has been no housing development since they signed up.
!Kharigub also boasted at the time that his company had identified investors who were interested to go into private/public partnership (PPP) with local authorities should they have difficulties in servicing land and said they were willing to service land if municipalities did not have money.
According to him, through the project they intended to replace corrugated-iron sheet structures in informal settlements with decent hydraform block houses and added that they started experimenting with the hydraform concept, which uses cement, clay and stone, ten years ago when they built a 36-square metre house in Rehoboth.
Contacted for comment, Rehoboth Municpality acting CEO, Willie Swartz, said they allocated the construction company one free plot in November and also approved a building plan last week for a sample house.
He said they wanted to see whether the company was up to scratch, if the concept would be financially bankable and also wanted to compare bank evaluation against output of the hydraform concept.
“How long they will take to finalise (building the house), we want to see,” he said, adding they would still give the company the benefit of the doubt.
Asked if the delay was on the side of the municipality, Swartz said Hydraform Interlocking Building Solution took too long to approach them but they heard the company was “getting customers”.
Swartz said he came to learn of the residents’ complaints about the company in a local newspaper, but it was entirely a matter between them and the entity.
The acting CEO said the prospective buyers’ general impression was that the Rehoboth Municipality was dragging its feet to give land to the company, but the council apparently even pledged to buy houses from Hydraform Interlocking Building Solution if the houses were up to standard.
“We said we would give value additions, which are not part of the features of the houses and ask banks to evaluate them,” he said, and noted they would have used those houses as an assessment to see if low-cost housing in the southern town was viable.
Former Rehoboth Municipality CEO, Theo Jankowski, said the company submitted a business proposal to his office end of January this year and he supported the idea as they needed such initiatives to lower the cost of housing.
However, Jankowski said the company was a little too optimistic if labour and other costs are taken into consideration but added that nevertheless, it would be a good thing for the company to bring in public private partnerships, which would also indirectly advantage the municipality “because if they build houses, we will benefit through land taxes, water and electricity”.