29 Mar 2022

The advancement and strengthening of sustainable and affordable housing is imperative to the development of a country.

Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing Development permanent secretary, Mr Thuso Ramodimoosi said this Monday during a meeting with a visiting delegation  from Zimbabwe’s Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities.

Mr Ramodimoosi said it was therefore important for  Botswana to reduce its housing deficit in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals that lead to improved equity, economic productivity and environmental sustainability.

He said the 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed through the Botswana-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission (BNC) on cooperation in the provision of sustainable, affordable and functional low-cost housing would ensure that the two countries exchanged strategies and policies for the benefit of their citizens.

“For example, after our benchmarking exercise in Zimbabwe, we learnt of strategies that could address our current issues of infrastructure backlog,” he said.

Mr Ramodimoosi said a new tailored approach to providing adequate and affordable housing for all citizens would benefit both countries.

He said the MoU was intended to enhance cooperation in the execution of the two ministries’ mandate of delivering quality infrastructure to citizens.

For her part, permanent secretary and head of delegation, Ms Joy Makumbe said the aim of the bilateral agreement between the two nations was to reaffirm commitment to developing their economies through sustainable and affordable housing.

Ms Makumbe said it was important for government to provide citizens with sustainable and inexpensive housing.

“We currently have a ballooning housing deficiency in our country and we need to be building enough houses that will be able to meet the demands of our population,” she stated.

Ms Makumbe stressed the importance of  materials and technology in building houses.

“I have heard that certain types of bricks are used to build houses in Botswana, so I am curious to learn more about those types of building materials used,” she said.

She revealed that her country hoped to build 220 000 housing units by 2025.

Ms Makumbe said her government chose Botswana because of the rapid progress it had made in infrastructure development.

“In a few short years, we have noticed that the country has developed immensely infrastructure-wise and we want to tap into that knowledge and hit the ground running as well back home in Zimbabwe,” she said.

The benchmarking mission follows the signing two years ago of the MoU on cooperation in the provision of sustainable, affordable and functional low cost housing. Ends