The Ministry of Local Government has announced that Frw8 billion will be used to construct 30,881 houses for vulnerable groups across the country this year.

This was revealed during a press conference on Wednesday by Eugene Barikana, the Secretary General in the ministry. He said construction works kicked off last month.

Barikana said most of the money would be used to purchase iron sheets, cement and nails.

He added that local leaders had been asked to mobilize the masses to identify sites, make bricks and level construction sites.

About 3,500 bags of cement and 21,640 iron sheets have already been distributed to various sites, Barikana said.

"We want to construct standard houses of at least 60 iron sheets, with a toilet, kitchen and a bathroom," he said, adding that a team of engineers was put together to facilitate the process. Each house would cost about Frw3 million.

The officials urged district mayors and other stakeholders to work closely with the Government to ensure that the exercise succeeds.

He sent out a warning against diverting construction materials, saying tough measures had been devised to deal with such cases.

The development comes after the Local Government Minister Protais Musoni issued an ultimatum to all mayors to have completed similar houses under the 2006-7 budgets by last month.

About 4267 houses were supposed to have been completed by November 2007, but only 1, 198 had until last month been done.

The Fund for Genocide Survivors (FARG) provided up to Frw3.1 billion to mayors in 2006 and 2007 for the construction of the houses for survivors, while the Ministry of Local Government had provided them another Frw100 million and Frw75, 896,800 in 2006 and 2007, respectively, for the same
purpose.

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