Estate Development Limited has urged government to reduce property transfer tax because it adds to the cost of houses in the country.
Estate Development Limited Chairman Savior Konie said this in Lusaka yesterday during the launch of the 136 houses meant for sale to prospective buyers.
The houses are being constructed under the partnership between state owned National Housing Authority (NHA) and Malaysian Development giants MKP.
Mr. Konie however said the 136 housing units were a drop in the ocean in terms of mitigating the nation’s housing deficit.
He said the cost of utilities has a significant cost implication on the final price of the houses because the utility providers do not deliver the services such as power, water and sewerage in the new areas that are being opened up by developers.
Mr. Konie further said this has caused the delay in project completion and has increased project costs.
He explained that the tax is imposed on the developer at a rate of 10 percent transfer rate.
He further said the excessive cost of mortgage financing should be looked into with the urgency it deserves for quick resolution of the problem so that more people can access affordable mortgages.
And Estate Development Limited Chief Executive Officer Charles Holland also urged government to reduce tax or waive it for buyers of newly constructed houses.
Mr. Holland said this will go a long way in ensuring that a lot of people own houses.
PF GRZ are broke, there only means of revenue is borrowing and strangling citizens with high taxes. They have no capacity to generate wealth for the country.
PF has “killed “a lot of businesses through high taxes.One wonders; the campaign message of PF was “less taxes & more money in your pockets”.
they meant more money in the politicians pockets….. not yours my dear!!!!!!!!