BY DIRAMAKINI
NATIONAL Housing Corporation (NHC) has outlined its eleven priorities following the new leadership of the Corporation after the appointment of Nehemiah Kyando Mchechu as Director General once again.
The new priorities were unveiled on April 4th,2022 by the NHC Public Affairs and Information Manager, Muungano Saguya as he briefed the public regarding The Corporation’s priorities at Kambarage House, NHC Dar es Salaam office building.Saguya cited the priorities including completion of NHC’s large projects - Morocco Square and Kawe 711 in Dar es Salaam which have stalled since 2018 due to financial constraints.
“The Corporation has been given an initial approval by the Government to borrow 173.9 Billion Shillings to complete the projects and Treasury has already disbursed 44.7 Billion Shillings to kick start completion of the projects, preliminary business plans for construction of housing, business complexes and shopping malls targeting middle -income earners in the Kawe area is in progress,”said Saguya.
He mentioned that in support of the government’s relocation of the capital to Dodoma, the corporation will continue to build houses in Dodoma, construction which will include Medeli Phase 3, Iyumbu Phase 3 (Multiple Storey Apartments) and other projects after acquiring land for development in the Ndejengwa area.
Another priority Saguya mentioned is NHC to collaborate with the private sector in the development of commercial and residential buildings in areas owned by NHC in efforts to boost the governments’ revenue, economy and employment for Tanzanians.
"We intend to work with various institutions and stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of our projects, especially their significant participation in development of roads, electricity and water,"said Saguya.
He added that there will be a review of the Structure and Strategic Plan of The Corporation so that they have a broad scope to help bring efficiency and carry out major responsibilities in the housing sector, "we intend to strongly align the plans with Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Ruling party’s Manifesto and The National Development Plan,"said.
Another priority mentioned by NHC’s Public Affairs and Information Manager is its’ continuous maintenance of the 18,622 properties owned by The Corporation. Currently NHC is implementing maintenance of its properties through the five-year Maintenance Plan (2021/22 - 25/26).
To achieve this The Corporation has allocated 50 billion shillings to implement the plan and that renovation works will involve replacing roofs, toilets and dilapidated windows, etc.
"In addition we are looking at the possibility of reducing construction costs by setting up factories that will help produce building materials used by The Corporation," Saguya said.
In terms of rental arrears Saguya noted that, the debt amounting to 22 billion shillings will be collected from NHC tenants and various debts arising from the sale of houses and plots amounting to 11.1 billion shillings will be collected as well.
"We want to ensure that each debtor pays his/her debt to enable The Corporation continues serving all Tanzanians using public resources,"He said.
Another priority is to ensure completion of the construction of eight Government Ministries buildings NHC was awarded to construct in the city of Mtumba in Dodoma (second phase) costing a total of 186.83 billion shillings.
"We intend to complete the projects on time by increasing the management, quality control of the buildings,"said.
In conclusion, the NHC Public Affairs and Information Manager assured the media that it is an important pillar of information dissemination to the public and that NHC will continue to work with them to build the image of the corporation.