29 May 2014

The public officers’ housing scheme has been delayed due to various factors including financial institutions and modalities of implementation.

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Mr Thato Raphaka said this when reporting to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Gaborone on May 27. He said the ministry had decided to first work out modalities of implementing the scheme before they could avail it to Batswana.

He explained that modalities for the implementation of public officers’ housing scheme would be completed in a period of six months, however he noted the project might be delayed as the houses had to be financed by commercial banks.

Mr Raphaka said it was realised that they were likely to impoverish Batswana if they expected them to take mortgages and build houses, stating that they had asked Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) to build houses and sell them to Batswana.

He said it would actually be expensive to allow Batswana to build houses and sell them to government. Mr Raphaka said they were mindful of the high pricing, saying they had proposed that the houses that would be built by BHC should not exceed P152 000 so that they could be affordable to Batswana.

Member of Parliament for Kanye North,  Mr Kentse Rammidi also the committee member, was of the view that Batswana in rural areas did not apply for loans to build houses saying they instead used savings they made through selling cattle.

Mr Phillip Makgalemele, MP for Shoshong, also committee member, asked if the ministry had availed specifications of constructing the houses to other targeted groups, or if they had been availed to BHC only.

Mr Makgalemele also asked the accounting officer to commit to the statement that government was going against the initial plan to have individuals build houses and sell or rent them to Batswana in a move to alleviate poverty amongst locals.

In response, Mr Raphaka said specifications were not given to other groups adding that the ministry has scaled down the parameters in each house so that BHC could lower down the cost.

He said there was an issue on whether BHC was providing affordable houses to Batswana, stating that they always meet with BHC to try and assist them to get financing from commercial banks, noting that providing them with subvention has never been easy for government.

He also stated that the window to have Batswana build houses and rent or sell to government was still open, saying they were using the arrangement with BHC as a vehicle for the project.

Mr Raphaka said once the modalities have been done, they would then publicise and consider any company or individuals that would propose to build houses for public officers, reiterating that they were saying BHC should atleast assist them so that the cost could go down.

Mr Makgalemele said availing specifications only to BHC was unfair business practice.

Mr Fidelis Molao MP for Tonota North asked if it was the ministry’s conviction to request government to provide subvention, citing parastatals getting subvention from government such as Air Botswana and wondered why BHC could not get the same.

Mr Raphaka said they were going to give BHC P83 million for the turnkey project, noting that it was not going to be possible for the public officers’ housing to get subvention, saying their wish was that, the same could happen in the case concerned.

He said they were aware that BHC houses were not affordable, but were working out strategies on how best prices could be lowered.
PAC chair also MP for Lobatse, Mr Nehemiah Modubule requested the permanent secretary to state the number of houses the ministry was targeting to build per year.

In response, Mr Raphaka explained that they did not have a target for the general public officers’ housing built by BHC because they did not know the offer they would get from commercial banks. ENDS