Why affordable housing remains a dream

Despite the government’s efforts and incentives to ensure the establishment of decent housing for the low and middle income earners, lack of study on the real price still hampers the process.Esther Mutamba, the Director General of Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA), says at the moment, they cannot determine the value of affordable houses for low and middle income earners.“We are currently working on the affordable housing market study in Kigali that will enable us to know the supply and demand of the houses,” Mutamba said yesterday during a news conference.The conference was aimed at briefing the media on the upcoming Pan African meeting on low income housing that starts in Kigali tomorrow.The three-day 31st Shelter -Afrique Annual General Meeting and 2012 Annual Symposium will be held under the theme; “Financing Low Cost Housing in Africa: Meeting the Challenges.”The districts of Nyarugenge, Gasabo and Kicukiro, which comprise the City of Kigali, recently indentified sites for construction of low cost houses, owing to the fact that majority families might get affected by the ongoing implementation of the city master plan.Nyarugenge, for example, had announced that the low cost houses would range from between Rwf7 million and Rwf15 million, while medium houses go up to Rwf70 million.She noted that a study scheduled to be completed next month, will help them understand how much people earn and the suitable housing category that suits their income.The study, she added, will also be conducted in other parts of the country.Jack Kayonga, the Managing Director of Rwanda Development Bank (BRD), however, said that despite the obstacles in the housing process, they are ready to play a significant role in the country’s housing sector.“We we have financed different developers like one who is building 100 houses in Kanombe (Kicukiro) that cuts across low cost, middle and high end,” said Kayonga, whose bank was merged with Rwanda Housing Bank, last year.Kayonga disclosed that they have received $7.6m (approx Rwf4.6bn) from Shelter –Afrique, part of which has been invested in a housing project in Kagugu, Gasabo District.At the same conference, the BRD boss pointed out that the most important aspect in considering the affordable housing is the tenure one is given to pay the house not the interest rate.“We do have tenure at BRD that go up to 20 years but the biggest challenge is to work with the developers who will manage the whole housing project and the risks associated,” he noted.The Minister of Infrastructure, Albert Nsengiyumva, said that the government is committed to set up affordable housing estates in the country.He explained that the meeting will provide a better platform to find out how other African countries have dealt with the challenges in the housing sector.The forum will bring together more than 250 delegates from 44 African countries.As a primary part of the symposium, the forum will also review what role Shelter Afrique, a multilateral institution to which all the 43 member countries belong to, should play in facilitating the financing of decent housing and review the performance of the company during 2011 in the realization of this mission in the region.

National

Why affordable housing remains a dream