12 Sep 2016

Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) handed 48 housing units to the Ministry of Health in Ghanzi recently. 

The corporation built 206 housing units to the tune of P25 million.  

When receiving the houses, senior manager from the Ministry of Health, Ms Dikeledi Phefo said the houses came at the right time since the ministry was faced with acute shortage of accommodation.

Ms Phefo noted that the journey to acquire houses from BHC started in 2013 following construction of BHC houses in Ghanzi.

She said at the time, the Ghanzi Primary Hospital had a staff of 370 people out of which 103 officers were accommodated and almost the 80 per cent were sharing. Ms Phefo praised staff for executing their duties despite inadequate housing.

 ‘I’m sure the residents of Ghanzi will see a change of better service delivery because our staff will now be comfortable and don’t have to worry about accommodation. Please be aware that not everyone is going to be housed, but they should keep the faith as this is just the beginning of good things to come’, said Ms Phefo.

For his part the BHC chief executive officer Mr Reginald Motswaiso said there was a serious challenge of lack of accommodation in rural and peri-urban areas such as Ghanzi hence government embarking on a number of initiatives undertaken by BHC country wide such as the SHHA turnkey programme, public officers housing initiative, youth housing, instalment purchase scheme and district housing.

“It is a milestone for BHC delivering this project in Ghanzi as these are the first ever housing units to be built by the corporation in the township,” said Mr Motswaiso. However, Mr Motswaiso said there were some challenges, one of the key challenges that called for innovation being the sewage system.

He said Ghanzi has a flat and rocky terrain which called for an innovative sewage system unlike the one used country wide which uses gravity. 

To support the sewer line, Mr Motswaiso said BHC and Water Utilities Corporation had to work together to put in place a Mains Vacuum Sewer System, the first of its kind in Botswana.

He said a team from WUC and BHC was sent to Germany in 2011 to understudy, build and develop the system which was eventually brought to Botswana and successfully installed in Ghanzi to manage waste.

“The completion of these houses provided us with an opportunity to further add to the value chain as different wings of the government and local authority bought housing units from the estate. When government departments purchase our products, I am greatly encouraged to build more houses because I know that the quality of men and women being posted in far places like Ghanzi will be well accommodated’, Motswaiso said. ENDS