Government hands over 89 houses in Swakopmund
The President, HE Dr Hage Geingob, recently announced that an estimated 340,000 new plots will be serviced and an estimated 221,000 new houses will be built over five years spanning 2024 to 2029.
On 07 November, the Cabinet approved the revised National Housing Policy and Implementation Action Plan and related estimated financial implications to enable improved access to housing, as the basis for inclusive and sustainable economic development, he noted.
The President said this last Thursday at the handover of 89 completed houses built under the mass housing development programme (MHDP) in Swakopmund’s Matutura township.
“The Policy and Action Plan provides accelerated interventions and actions to scale up the upgrading of informal settlements across the country (upgrading of at least 60% of existing informal settlements) and is in line with our resolve to scale up the delivery of more serviced land and housing, as well as my declaration of emergency due to the poor living conditions of people who reside in informal settlements, as a humanitarian crisis requiring urgent action,” he said.
“Regarding providing land tenure security and upgrading informal settlements, the government continues to provide budgetary allocations to Regional and Local Authority Councils to service land through the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development. The Flexible Land Tenure System, whose implementation is spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, is another complementary instrument that has been put in place and used by the government in this regard. It entails simplified means of providing land ownership without the involvement of conveyancers,” the President said at the official handover.
“We can only achieve the noble objectives and targets outlined in the National Housing Policy and Implementation Action Plan if we continue to embrace the concept of Harambee. We climb the summit of national housing delivery through holding hands, enhancing collaborative action, and achieving unity of purpose with all stakeholders.”
The MHDP is a government initiative intended to address the housing backlog. It began with projects across 21 sites and has since built 4239 housing units countrywide, handed over from its inception in 2014 to July 2023.
The housing backlog in Namibia is addressed through various instruments, including the Build Together Housing Revolving Scheme, grant support to community-based organizations like the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN), PPPs between financial and local authorities, and private sector investments and developments.
