Developers in Tanzania are planning to cut on the cost of housing.National Housing Corporation (NHC) and Watumishi Housing Company (WHC) say they are looking for ways to ensure affordable houses to more people.

The intention is to attract more customers in spite of the value-added tax (VAT) charged on housing.

VAT charged on construction materials and finished houses has been a major hindrance for many developers in Tanzania.The houses are unaffordable to many low income earners in the country.

Fred Msemwa, the CEO of Watumishi Housing Company said that the VAT issue was still being handled by the government and was yet to be settled.

Watumishi Housing Company is a public entity which is a licensed fund manager for management of the WHC Real Estate Investment Trust.

He noted that so far the company has built 700 houses valued between between Sh27 million and Sh76 million each in Dar es Salaam.

He urges that to have affordable houses the cost of construction will be reduced without compromising quality.

According to Msemwa, they first make sure that they buy plots at lowest market prices and areas of convenience.

He said after the advice they now use the same quality materials but at affordable rates.

He called on the public to move away from building their own houses and instead purchase houses already built because it was much cheaper.

According to him, a person constructing and renting a house at the same time discovers that they spent a lot of money than a person who bought and continued paying while living in the house.

National Housing Corporation has written a letter to the Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development minister, Mr William Lukuvi, to waive VAT on housing.

Susan Omari, the head of NHC corporate affairs and CSR said that the corporation was exploring other options as it awaited the ministry’s decision on VAT in housing to enable as many Tanzanians as possible to own houses.

The expansion of Major road project in Rwandan city of Kigali is well on course with the contractor China Road Bridge Corporation promising a speedy and quality work.

According to the contractor carrying out the project the expansion is set to cover about 54 kilometers, mainly targeting expanding roads to a dual carriage way with two lanes on each side.

The city has hired HYCOGEC Consultant Ltd to supervise construction works and officials said technical specifications for the contractors to follow are already in place and they are ready to ensure all the requirements are met.

“We are here to do daily supervision to ensure that all technical specifications the contractors agreed on with the clients are met,” said Eng. David Nkurunziza, the supervisor from the consultant firm.

“Our work is to ensure that the contractor does quality work, this is a huge project and the money being used is a loan and should be well-spent,” he added.

He said the main issues to look at are the crusher plant which will be used to blend construction materials as well as asphalt plant as they are the main tools to be used during the construction and this will help them ensure that the design specifications for the road is also met.

The first phase is the city roundabout-Muhima-Gatsata, which covers 3.2 kilometres and Rwandex, Goodyear to Prince House (Remera) road that covers about 4 kilometres.

Completion of the first phase is expected by August and the second phase that will cover Nyacyonga, Nduba, Nyamirambo and the network around Rugando will also be worked on according to the officials.

According to the City officials, the funding of the project was between Rwanda and China but the expropriation cost would be met by the Government of Rwanda.

This is one of the major city project that is being carried in 2017 in Kigali and is set to change the face and ease up transportation of commodities within the city.

Due to housing shortage in South Africa, Entrepreneurs are making massive proceeds by buying Reconstruction and Development Programme(RDP) houses; flattening them to the ground and building blocks of flats soaring  above adjacent houses and backyard shacks in Dunoon township near Milnerton.

The safety of the multi-storey residencial houses ruling the township skyline is being subjected to questions by inhabitants.

Some RDP houses are being extended into a chain of single room flats off a middle corridor with communal baths. In some instances a single storey is added on the top to make more rooms.

One capitalist has set a new style. After buying an RDP house, he bulldozes it and is constructing a four-storey block of flats to lease it is the first four-storey apartment block in the town.

Plot dweller Erick Mzingile, whose shack is in the backyard of an RDP house adjacent  to the multi-storey apartment building, said he was stunned to see the elevation of the building.

Mzingile said the building creates a high risk to tenants should a fire break out. “We don’t know if it will stand harsh weather. We didn’t see building inspectors. We just saw it taking form,” he said.

Efforts to get in touch with the entrepreneur were unproductive.

Ward 104 councilor Lubabalo Makeleni said while he supported property investment in the town, “investors should prioritize the safety and security of our citizens and not be gluttonous by taking advantage of our community”. He blamed the City of Cape of failing to regulate “unlawful building structures in our region. Instead they center on well off suburbs”.

Makeleni said the lack of housing prospects led to the escalating of multi-storey blocks of flats.

“Our people are frantic for housing and prepared to pay any sum towards rental without checking their safety and security,” he said.

The demand for housing has also led to RDP house prices rising. “Within a year the price of RDP houses leaped from R120,000 to R200,000, which is absurd to our community as most purchasers are foreigners and white people,” Makeleni said. 

this news occured and was reported as at Feb 1,2017