As the first phase of constructing houses for public servants comes to an end, the Watumishi Housing Company (WHC) is set to start building additional housing units in the current financial year to cater for increased demand for decent accommodation by civil servants.
A total of 729 housing units were constructed in the first phase in five projects undertaken at Magomeni, Bunju and Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam while other schemes were implemented in Mwanza and Morogoro regions.
“The response from civil servants is very high, we received over 1,500 applications and yet there were 729 units that were available,” the WHC’s Public Relations and Sales Officer, Ms Maryjane Makawia, told journalists at the ongoing 40th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF).
The official explained that the second phase will involve projects to be implemented in Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Coast, Tanga and Arusha regions. She assured the servants of affordable housing through the envisioned ‘Nyumba Fund’ which will provide finance for implementation of the project.
“Through government intervention we also hope that the cost for land and building materials will be lowered to enable us to construct affordable houses,” she explained.
During the initial stage, there were 369 and 104 housing units at Magomeni and Bungu, respectively, as well as 474, 85 and 72 units in Kigamboni, Morogoro and Mwanza, accordingly.
According to the official, the main challenge observed in the initial stage was the fact that many people were not aware of the mortgage financing. “We as well got complaints from majority of applicants that interests rates charged by banks and financial institutions were high and this has scared away many potential buyers,” she explained.
Civil servants wishing to acquire houses built by the company have four options which include paying cash, mortgage financing from banks, down payment as well as hire purchase which is currently applicable for the Morogoro project only.
Daily News
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