Govt to construct 50 000 housing units in five years

The government plans to construct 50 000 housing units within five years.

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on Thursday said the government has committed to addressing informal settlements.

She said this during her maiden state of the nation address (Sona) in Windhoek.

The president said the alliance between the public and private sectors and members of the society in the upgrading of informal settlements and accelerated delivery of low-cost residential housing and sanitation continues to be critical.

“Going forward, the eigth Administration has planned to construct 10 000 low-cost social housing units per annum and 5 000 units over the five-year term,” she said.

The mass formalisation of informal settlements will commence in earnest, she said.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said there is a need for innovation to augment institutional capacities and decongest the bureaucratic bottlenecks that have for too long undermined the supply of urban land and housing.

“To this end, the minister of urban and rural development is directed to establish a special land delivery task force under existing laws, restructure the township board and capacitate the surveyor general’s office to fast-track surveying to create more land and housing ownership opportunities,” she said.

The president said every Namibian deserves a safe environment to call home