By CHILA NAMAIKO –
THE National Housing Authority (NHA) has proposed to raze-down Misisi and Kuku Townships in Lusaka to construct 12,500 housing units at a cost of US$600 million.
NHA, through its Urban Renewal Concept of rent-to-buy scheme, proposes to build a chain of four-storey flats, to be offered to the tenants to pay rentals to own the facilities.
A total of 50,000 residents would be accommodated in those new houses in 40 hectares of the 230 hectarage.
The country’s housing units deficit was estimated at 1.5 million and projected to three million by 2030 hence NHA putting more interventions to address such crisis.
Acting NHA chief executive officer Waicha Ndhlovu said yesterday that the pilot project for the two townships, expected to be carried out in September this year, would include services and construction works.
Ms Ndhlovu said when she appeared before a Parliamentary Committee on Local Governance, Housing and Chiefs’ Affairs at Parliament Buildings in Lusaka that NHA was currently waiting for finalisation of a
sovereign guarantee from Government over the project.
She told the committee chaired by MMD Serenje Member of Parliament (MP) Maxwell Kabanda that, due to magnitude and social impact of the project, political will and sovereign guarantee were being addressed before implementing it.
“To make prime land available, the NHA has come up with urban renewal projects which seek to accommodate slum dwellers in the well planned smaller portion of the same land while freeing up a bigger percentage of prime land for mixed development,” she said.
Apart from providing social housing, the concept also addresses sustainable housing funding needed and climate change challenges.
The committee heard that, under the earmarked Misisi and Kuku Township upgrading project, the tenants would enjoy more social services such as modern road networks and hospitals.
Ms Ndhlovu said NHA had come up with a number of programmes to address housing deficit over the years, such as site and service schemes built on the concept of land use planning while putting services before building a well arranged layout of multiple use.
A buyer, she said, would select any serviced plots from the layout and upon payment of initial instalment of 30 per cent, and the balance of 70 per cent would be settled in 12 months.
She said, more than 15,000 more housing units had been earmarked for construction under the scheme, rent-to-buy, targeted at empowering civil servants to own houses.
In response to Patriotic Front Chinsali MP Kalalwe Mukosa, who sought clarification on why NHA was focusing on urban areas, Ms Ndhlovu said, that was being done due to security of tenure available which largely provides comfort to financiers and purchasers of housing developments.
