Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE National Housing Corporation (NHC) plans to establish a special construction department to deal with building low-cost houses for renting and selling.
The move is expected to benefit low-earners who cannot afford to build houses on their own.
The new development follows a recent directive by the Minister of Lands and Human Settlement Development, William Lukuvi when he visited a project for construction of 300 rental houses at Chamwino satellite town, currently being undertaken by NHC.
While at the project site, Mr Lukuvi directed NHC Director General, Dr Maulid Banyani, to establish the unit so that the management could only work on other administrative issues instead of spending their time on supervising construction of houses.
“Just employ capable youngsters who will be under the directorate of construction, and if you think it is possible to have a contractor, then that would also be fine,” he directed.
During an interview with journalists at the construction site, Dr Banyani said NHC would establish the unit which will be operating as a business entity and as a subsidiary of NHC, adding that apart from construction works, the department would equally be dealing with production of building materials to reduce the cost of purchasing them from dealers.
Commenting, NHC Director for Engineering and Construction, Haikamen Mlekio, said the Chamwino housing project would be completed in November.
He assured the minister that the houses would be of high quality to meet demands of the prospective tenants.
But Mr Lukuvi said that the official event to lay a foundation stone for the project would be done this September as he directed that during the event, at least some of the houses should have tenants who will give a testimony to the guest of honor so that the government can satisfy itself that the houses are beneficial.
