Lusaka — IT is unacceptable for 50 per cent of Zambians in urban areas to be without shelter, Finance Building Society (FBS) acting chief executive officer Abha Chaturvedi has observed.

Unveiling a range of products aimed at empoering a cross section of Zambians to access mortgage financing yesterday,

Chaturvedi said although Zambia had made progress in attaining food security, practically nothing had been done in terms of availing people with shelter which was a basic human right and also a basic need. "If you consider the people in rural areas, the number of Zambians with no access to shelter is even higher. This poses a challenge for building societies and other stakeholders to find ways of finding practical solutions to this matter," Chaturvedi said.

"Although a National Housing Policy was developed in 1996 the sad thing is that nothing has been done to implement its contents, and hence unplanned settlements have continued to develop and grow across the country.

"Now in line with President Mwanawasa's concern about this problem when he opened Parliament, we at FBS feel we have a major role to play because housing for all is our reason for existence."

The FBS products, dubbed 'Securing Your Future', incorporate Finsave and Finbuild, housing-linked facilities that enable clients to build or buy houses.

Chaturvedi said to maximise the benefit to clients, the house-linked products were long term but aimed to grow members' contributions in the short term.

Chaturvedi urged building societies in the country to exploit the improving economic climate by harnessing resources even from the low end market and channel them into mortgage financing so that more Zambians could own shelter.

The Secure Your Future products include two Finsave bonds which are shelter bond and housing bond that can be purchased in tenors of six months and 12 months.

Finsave incorporates savings accounts for individual and corporate clients with minimum deposits of K50,000 and K500,000 respectively and interest of six per cent per annum.

The range also includes a Monthly Income Plan for those about to retire and National Housing Authority (NHA)-Linked Deposit Scheme, a plan that would enable clients to save towards buying NHA-built houses. Finbuild incorporates a Home Loan for clients to buy or build houses and a Staff Home Ownership Scheme for employers seeking to empower their workers with shelter.

FBS business development manager Mkuzo Kuwani said: "The objective behind the launch of these products is to promote wealth creation amongst the Zambian public."