15 May 2016

 Minister of Lands and Housing, Mr Prince Maele has officially commenced construction of 750 Instalment Purchase Scheme (IPS) and youth housing project in Tsholofelo ward in Gaborone through the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP).

Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony recently, Mr Maele said housing development was one of the critical activities by which they hoped to empower Batswana and promote dignified livelihoods.

As such he requested Batswana youth to take advantage of the high rise buildings (flats) in order to maximise availability of land serviced.

The project, he said specifically targeted any youth Motswana earning between P3000 and P7 000 per month.

He noted that the original plan was to build a total of 1 000 housing units, but due to limited funding, the number was scaled down to 750 out of which 250 would specifically be reserved for the youth.

He said his ministry though the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) would undertake construction of the housing units in three plots including in Tsholofelo ward.

He said after ESP was launched by President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama in February this year, his ministry had embarked on different projects under broad categories of land servicing encompassing both peripheral and minimal land servicing, housing development which covered SHHA, turnkey, public officers housing initiative, IPS and youth housing, third-party as well as housing maintenance.

Mr Maele said he had since done ground breaking for Gaborone, Kanye, Nata, Tutume, Tonota and Francistown.

Mr Maele explained that ESP was an initiative by government to assist the country to recover from difficult economic times, and was also intended to stimulate the economy, create jobs and promote economic diversification.

The minister also indicated that other areas targeted by government for ESP included tourism and agricultural development, especially that they were geared towards employing many people.

Mr Maele stated that under his ministry, ESP would facilitate construction of 4481 new housing units, consisting of 2194 units of public housing, including 250 units reserved for the youth as well as another 2287 projects delivered through SHHA.

Further, he said they expected to accelerate land servicing of 37000 commercial and residential plots this financial year and refurbishment of 500 existing pool houses.

He also said the IPS had been awarded to a grade E contractor, Engi-Con (Pty) Ltd, a 100 per cent citizen contractor at a total construction sum of P64.4million.

He said the company would do internal roads, infrastructure developments and 156 housing units.

The project, he said, commenced on April 1 and expected to be completed by December next year.

He added that the project had employed more than 50 people and was anticipated that the whole project inclusive of phase two and three would create more than 200 jobs.

Mr Maele further mentioned that the next phase was expected to be awarded in two months to three other citizen owned companies.

Again, he said demand for affordable housing amongst Batswana, especially the youth and the low income groups, could not be underrated hence the reason his ministry’s decision to come up with a project of that nature which was expected to address shortage of accommodation.

Further, he indicated that additional 114 units were being prepared in Block 7 with a view to commencing work by September this year.

Emphasis, he said was on building high rise buildings in order to maximise availability of serviced land, adding the strategy would provide more housing for the same piece of land.

Thus, he urged Batswana to take advantage of high rise buildings and also other private sector companies to do their part to provide housing to Batswana.

Meanwhile, Mr Maele also reminded Batswana to continue registering their plots for effective delivery of services 

On the other hand, Member of Parliament for Gaborone North, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa expressed concern about local contractors whom, when given jobs, hired foreign companies.

Mr Nkaigwa also said job creation should have an impact on the livelihood of people in the area.

Further, the MP requested that ministry should help regulate rentals so that people were not manipulated into paying exorbitant prices for rented accom