Gov�t commits P39m to SHHA scheme
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday March 24, 2017 15:32
Presenting the Committee of Supply speech before Parliament this week, Molefhi said P38 million has been disbursed to various councils for 907 housing projects of which 346 housing units have been completed while 561 are under construction.
In addition he said 3,751 of 4,040 home improvement projects funded from 2008/2009 to 2014/2015 have been completed while 289 are at various stages of construction.
“On the other hand, out of a total of 5,439 Turnkey projects funded since 2008/2009 to date about 4,356 have been completed. About 2,071 out of 2,151 are implemented by councils and 909 of 909 and 1,003 out of 2,379 are implemented by the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC),” he said.
The Minister said they continue to take the less privileged Batswana out of poverty and give them dignified life under the Integrated Poverty Alleviation and Housing Scheme (IPAHS).
“Although it seems to be very slow in terms of housing construction, the outcomes of the scheme in terms of employment creation and income generation are visible and very promising,” he added.
He said currently about 19 projects are on commercial production countrywide, which have an enrolment of 370 beneficiaries. In addition, two projects are under construction while two more are at mobilisation stage and is expected that upon completion, the projects will each enroll 20 to 30 beneficiaries.
Since inception, about 179 beneficiaries have built houses for their families using the allowances earned from the sale of products produced from the IPAHS programme.
In order to make the programme more effective, the minister said government took a decision to revamp the scheme by among other things availing funds to capacitate projects with transport and machinery, training of the technical officers on marketing strategies to empower them to run the projects better and training of the beneficiaries on business and productive skills to graduate from poverty. “The delivery trucks have been purchased and distributed to councils for smooth operation of the projects while moulding machines are still to be purchased,” he said.
As part of government’s efforts to empower local contractors, the minister noted that 372 out of 750 Installment Purchase Scheme (IPS) and Youth housing units contracts have been awarded to citizen contractors. The first project comprising 156 units commenced in April 2016 and is scheduled for completion in December 2017. The scope of work include infrastructure, servicing and internal roads.
He said the other 216 units have been divided into small contracts of 60, 72 and 84 units each respectively and awarded to Grade D citizen contractors.
Further the Minister said the other 264 units at Tsholofelo site are being prepared for award by the end of March 2017 as they were delayed by statutory requirements, which have now been met and are expected to start between April and June 2017. He said the remaining 114 units are to be constructed in Block 7 where geotechnical studies are on-going and the project is expected to start during the third quarter of 2017/2018.
“Of the units to be completed, 250 will be reserved for the youth under the youth housing scheme,” he said.