Building costs stunt turnkey budget

The Turnkey Development Scheme aims to construct houses at P60,000 per unit, but Mokalake said in areas where construction has started the cost per unit so far ranges between P76,865.93 and P93,634.44. The minister told Parliament this week that costs per unit are expected to rise even further than this in areas such as North West, Chobe and Ghanzi where building materials are even more expensive.  He was presenting his ministry’s budget proposals before Parliament on Monday.

In the 2013/2014 financial year, P60 million was disbursed to the Botswana Housing Corporation, which handles the scheme under its Single Housing Authority (SiHA), for the construction of 2,000 turnkey houses, 1,000 houses per year.