FIRST STONE LAID IN MATOLA HOUSING PROJECT

Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Ali on Monday laid the first stone in a project to build 5,000 houses in the neighbourhood of Intaka, in the southern city of Matola.Construction is in the hands of the Chinese company, Henan Gouji Industry and Development, under an agreement signed on 14 August during President Armando Guebuza’s visit to China.The project, budgeted at 12 billion meticais (about 444 million US dollars), involves building not only the houses, but also schools, a health unit, creches, a shopping centre, a police station, access roads as well as the water supply and electricity networks. The site covers an area of 300 hectares.Construction is expected to take 18 months, and should create around 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. The Mozambican body in charge of project implementation is the government’s Housing Promotion Fund (FFH).The agreement signed with China envisages the construction of 10,000 houses. Ali said that the other 5,000 will be built in the other provincial capitals.He said that the scale of the project meant that it was a key stage in implementing the government’s five year programme for 2010-2014, in the light of which a Housing Policy and Strategy were recently approved.Ali added that the project will have a multiplier effect on the economy, through job creation and the establishment of various social services. “The project is further evident proof of our cooperation with China”, he declared. “The government will continue to encourage this kind of partnership”.The mayor of Matola, Arao Nhancale, guaranteed that no household will be forced to leave the area because of the project. “Today is a very special day”, he said. “The dream of Matola residents will become a reality. This ceremony symbolises the start of implementing an integrated project, since it will allow the establishment of social facilities. We must all embrace this project”. The chairperson of the FFH board, Rui Costa, said that most of the houses will be just one storey tall, though there will be some of two, or even three, storeys. The Minister of Public Works, Cadmiel Muthemba, recognised that one of the problems in financing housing is the difficulty in obtaining bank loans, and the high rates of interest charged by the commercial banks. The promoters of this initiative intend to mobilise additional funding which will be put at the disposal of a Mozambican bank (yet to be identified) in partnership with the National Development Bank of China, precisely so that they can offer mortgages, but at interest rates of no more than 10 per cent.The deputy governor of the Chinese province of Henan, Shi Jichun, who is visiting Mozambique at the head of a business delegation, stressed that implementing the housing project “is a landmark in our cooperation”.An estimated 25,000 people could live in the Intaka houses. Priorities in allocated the houses will go to members of the public administration, particularly young people who have recently concluded their training.