NHA acting chief executive officer Waicha Ndhlovu yesterday said her institution has come up with the concept of urban renewal projects which seeks to accommodate slum dwellers in the well-planned smaller portion of the same land while freeing up a bigger percentage of prime land for mixed development.
Ms Ndhlovu said this when she appeared before the parliamentary committee on Local Governance, Housing and Chiefs’ Affairs chaired by Serenje Central member of Parliament (MP) Maxwell Kabanda.
Ms Ndhlovu said due to the magnitude and social impact of such a huge project, political will and sovereign guarantee are required for its successful implementation.
She said NHA will apply the rent-to-own concept and will not displace residents of Misisi and Kuku townships.
“We want to build four-storey flats which residents will rent at K100 per month and after 10 years the flats become theirs. But to do this, we need sovereign guarantee from the Government and political will. These people have settled in these areas because of proximity to town where they simply walk to vend their merchandise,” Ms Ndhlovu said.
Ms Ndhlovu said the rent will go towards buying of the flats.
“We want to create another city within the city. It does not give us joy to see some uniformed personnel and civil servants live in slums. And if the project is successful, it will address sustainable housing and climate change challenges,” she said.
She said every Zambian is entitled to decent accommodation.
And Ms Ndhlovu said the creation of the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Development will boost the operations of NHA.
“We hope we can get projects from Government to build houses and this will boost our financial base,” she said.
Math does not add up! K100 a month for 10 years is only K12,000 to buy one flat. Cost of construction is at least K50,000….
The total cost of $600m suggests $48,000 per unit. If this is recovered over 10 years, then the monthly rental should be $400. That’s before finance and admin charges. It is clear that the K100 per month is a lie so that NHA/PF lays their grimy hands on this prime land. After construction, the old residents will be told that costs have changed and they cannot move in unless they pay K4-6,000 per month. Any govt that guarantees this scheme is criminal.
No wonder NHA is broke and most of their houses remain unsold. Management is incompetent and unimaginative. They cannot cost their projects properly.
brilliant idea madame, can the project take off in the next 6 months we get ride of dingyness and untold filthness near to CB . THIS IS NOT TO TALK ABOUT THE CRIME AND PROSTITUTION LEVELS FROM THESE COMPOUNDS
People people. Housing units build in Informal Settlements basically design to relieve the poor has a component of bridging finance and subsidy. Although I don’t like the term slums, let’s better say Informal Settlements since even our uniformed and civil servers leave in these areas. Dont calculate the rentals just welcome the idea of building these units. However I hope someone knows Project Management in Confined areas for NHA to state that they will not displace the people during construction. How re the structures going to be built? More so four storey buildings. Oh water and sewer supply my word how is it going to be managed as well. Misisi has and underplaying rock layer as it can from Kafue Road mining activities. All the best with the project
But we need to do away with vimakomboni va doti ivi. They make Lusaka look really bad. Just saying.
It sounds a good concept but I think it will have some discrimination because without these houses will be standard e.g. 2 bedroomed houses only elo bashi nani has built a 5 bedroomed structure. Secondly,she’s talking of September as if they have already agreed with the people of kuku and misisi. Thirdly, the dynamics of structures in misisi and kuku will definitely need to tread well. What happens to the person who rents 4 different structures? Is that person going to be given 4 houses? The best way is compensate the people wt a willing seller policy and find them land to build. Nothing should b done in a hurry
I totally agree with you and have suggested the same before. Govt should find land elsewhere for the residents and compensate them for their current structures. The new township should not be tied to old residents because they will not be able to afford the rentals.
@2 Brown Envelope & @2.1 Buck Teeth.. I TOTALLY AGREE with you! SLUMS DID NOT START YESTERDAY SO SHOULD TREAT CAREFULLY AS WE MOVE TO CHANGE the shameful current state of affairs. THESE SAME SLUMS HAVE PERSISTED bcoz successive governments starting from UNIP which allowed slums to develop use them as a source of votes to keep them in power! As suggested by @2, we NEED A NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT where, PEOPLE ARE PERSUADED TO SELL OFF TO THOSE WITH MONEY TO PUT UP MODERN STRUCTURES, IN A PLANNED WAY!! The residents can be RE-SETTLED in WELL PLANNED and SERVICED ENVIRONMENT which they CAN APPRECIATE and PREFER to the WAY THEY ARE LIVING NOW! THESE THINGS HAVE BEEN DONE IN RWANDA and ETHIOPIA!!
“she’s talking of September as if they have already agreed with the people of kuku and misisi” use eminent domain.
It sounds a good concept but I think it will have some discrimination because these houses will be standard e.g. 2 bedroomed houses only elo bashi nani has built a 5 bedroomed structure. Secondly,she’s talking of September as if they have already agreed with the people of kuku and misisi. Thirdly, the dynamics of structures in misisi and kuku will definitely need to tread well. What happens to the person who rents 4 different structures? Is that person going to be given 4 houses? The best way is compensate the people wt a willing seller policy and find them land to build. Nothing should b done in a hurry
Good idea, it will have some effects but the drive is positive and must be done.. Progress!
Ba chimbwi… Stop being negative for once and appreciate this is a good starting point. Zambians love being critics on anything…These houses are obviously subsidised hence NHA wants sovereign guarantee. South Africa has similar housing projects in slums under the RDP housing scheme. The essence of the project is to free up some land which will be used for other infrastructure like decent mall not tu ntemba ubututu chifita.
@5 Ideas, the Idea is good but we should be looking at the “PRACTICALITY” of implementing it! The examples you are giving from S.Africa can be lessons to learn from BUT we need to ALWAYS EVALUATE OUR CAPACITY to reproduce what others have done! S.Africa has much more resources so they can subsidize housing for their people much more easily than we can do! We MAY COPY THE IDEA but IMPLEMENT IT DIFFERENTLY! S.Africa is NOT THE ONLY EXAMPLE, within SUB-SAHARA AFRICA there are SOME MORE EXAMPLES to learn from e.g. ETHIOPIA and its transformation of Addis Ababa, RWANDA and its transformation of KIGALI. But all these transformations have been done with proper POLITICAL COMMITMENT,PLANNING,IMPLEMENTING THE PLANS and CHANGING CITIZEN’s MINDSET!! It NOT UBUTUUTU but being PRACTICAL!!
@Bwafyaa, you assume Zambia doesn’t have resources it has. There is a huge difference between not having resources and mismanaging resources. I will leave that for you to decide. We have too much resources in Zambia if we didn’t all the bazungu’s wouldn’t be leaving the comfort of their home countries to come to Zambia. What NHA wants is GRZ to guarantee (act as a guarantor so the the parastatal can secure the funding). Am not debating whether South Africa is the only country there are many more countries in Africa who are progressing and modernising their slums into decent surburbs.
The project makes sense. The difference in the cost of the houses and cost of building the houses is recovered from the value of the land that is freed up and on which profitable businesses are set up by NHA. I think it’s a win-win situation.
Good idea. Lets replan and rebuild these compounds. But it should not be the usual rhetoric. When is the identification and registration of residents starting, are there some unique ones who will need compensation of some sorts, what is the temporal resettlement plan when flats will be built, financing. Is this one of the many usual rhetorics that will die in a few days time. Are we now changing from the talking republic to an action republic
Costs aside, we have advocated for this concept for a long time as a way to end shanty compounds. this should be done with the support of all Zambians and political parties just like removal of street vendors should be supported by everyone.
I wish you knew maintenance aspect before you thought high rise residences for urban squatter dwellers entails. so much failed studies and projects around africa and south america have failed. I would wish to read your report on your approach used with regards to build-ability and maintenance aspects.
Its sad we seem to have so much rhetoric managers than on the ground social architects at the helm of this institution.
Spot on ..who facility Manages the communal areas after 10 years…Kabwata flats are a mess because of this…we never learn.
Am in support 100%. Go NHA go
I support the project if we dwell on the negatives, this country will not get any where. I have looked at the project model and its wonderful. I wished it was shown on the web site for people to comment in an informed manner.