BHC builds 17 houses in Gantsi
Leinanyana Tsiane | Thursday August 28, 2014 06:00
Another 17 will be built at a cost of P2.1 million.
According to Motswaiso, the houses are part of a fourth batch of SHHA turnkey projects, which BHC began working on two years ago.
“In some districts there were several delays to kickstart the SHHA turnkey housing development programme due to extensive consultation with the concerned stakeholders including the district councils, and how the programme is to be rolled out,” Motswaiso said.
Prior to that, all projects were coordinated under the district councils across the country and due to a number of challenges, a Presidential Cabinet Directive was issued in 2010 that all housing programmes be coordinated by the Single Housing Authority (SiHA), said Motswaiso.
He further said that the government has committed more than twice the funds it initially availed for the construction of houses in various constituencies around the country. Motswaiso said the cost of a SHHA house was estimated at P60,000 but it was found that in areas such as Maun, Okavango, Ngami, Gantsi and Chobe the prices of materials and transportation were high. This has inflated the unit price to P136,000.
“However, the beneficiaries will still be expected to pay back their P60,000 loans,” he said.
Motswaiso added that the BHC experienced some challenges during the first batch of the SHHA turnkey projects after they engaged some local companies.
“Some contractors abandoned projects halfway, which led to delays in completion of some projects. But to address these challenges we have since taken a deliberate decision to engage contractors in category B in addition to the OC and A of the PPADB, and also contractors that have performed well in the first batch,” he said.
For the Gantsi North project, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB)-registered contractors, Kota Construction and Greatland, won the tender to construct the houses.