Malawi Housing Corporation expects to build 25,000-50,000 homes through partnership with Kuwaiti company

* Government envisions to construct 250,000 houses through different stakeholders

* To address issues of growing demand for housing due to the population growth and urbanisation

* And to achieve MW2063 development vision of transforming the nation into an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation

By Elia Chibwe, MANA

Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) has disclosed that they expect to build 25,000 to 50,000 houses through their partnership with Al-Bader International Development Company of Kuwait.

At the signing ceremony of a memorandum of onderstanding (MoU) yesterday in Lilongwe, MHC Board chairperson, Jaleck Kachipanda said government envisions to construct 250,000 houses through different stakeholders and their partnership with the Kuwaiti company marks a milestone for the flagship project.

“We cannot give them the entire 250,000, but of course during our initial discussions, we are talking about 25,000 to 50,000 houses,” Kachipanda said.

He said that government embarked on a project to address issues of growing demand for housing due to the population growth and urbanisation and to achieve MW2063 development vision of transforming the nation into an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation.

“The Corporation is challenged by limited stock of housing units [at 6,000], coupled with unprecedented levels of population growth which is 2.8% per year with current estimated population of 20 million people.

“And government is embarking on transforming the country into an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation by the year 2063. So government of Malawi challenged MHC to build 250,000 housing units in the next 10 years through the application of environmentally friendly construction technologies,” he said.

Senior Advisor for chairperson of Al-Bader International Development Company, Abdelazeem D. Abd El Rahim said they are committed to participate in the country’s sustainable development.

“We are hoping also not only to implement this project, we are looking forward also to implement other projects because there are advantages involved in infrastructure implementation and funding of infrastructure projects.

“So we are hoping also to receive other projects, study them and also implement them and participate in the sustainable development of the country,” El Rahim said.

MHC has earmarked sites in the four cities of the country — Lilongwe, Blantyre, Zomba and Mzuzu.

At a housing symposium on July 29, at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe, President Lazarus Chakwera emphasised on the importance of provision of affordable and durable housing solutions for all citizens if grass thatched houses are to end in Malawi.

He said the symposium, held under the theme; ‘Sustainable and Affordable Housing in Pursuit of MW2063’, is a landmark event that marks a new era in Malawi’s housing sector.

“The problem of less durable houses in Malawi is huge, and we have analysed it thoroughly,” Chakwera said while highlighting government’s initial focus on housing for police and army personnel, with plans for 10,000 houses.

So far, 1,000 houses have been completed and approximately 4,000 are in various stages of construction and Chakwera introduced Project 250, aimed to construct 250,000 houses with 500 already underway.

The project promises to deliver 25,000 houses annually, marking a significant step towards achieving the MW2063 goals.

The following day, Chakwera presided over the groundbreaking of a six storey office complex for MHC headquarters in Lilongwe, which will be constructed in partnership with Henan Guoji as a contractor and co-financier of the project.

General manager for Henan Guoji Development Ltd in the country Nancy Wang, told the media that the actual work on the ground will commence in less than two months from now as they are yet to finalise working on the bill of quantities and other finer details.—Additional reporting by Daniel Siame, MANA; edited by Maravi Express