Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi acknowledged on Wednesday that access to decent housing for the great majority of the population remains a challenge.
He was speaking at the inauguration, in the neighbourhood of Incassane, in the Maputo municipal district of Katembe, of 100 houses built under the "Renascer' (Rebirth) project. This is the result of an investment by the government's Housing Promotion Fund (FFH), in partnership with Maputo Municipal Council, budgeted at 70 million meticais (about 1.1 million dollars, at the current exchange rate).
Nyusi said the target group for "Renascer' consists of citizens with an income of up to five times the national minimum wage. They will pay for the houses in monthly instalments of about 2,800 meticais, over a 20 year period, free of interest.
"The construction of each house cost approximately 800,000 meticais, but the houses are being sold for about 600,000 meticais', said Nyusi. "That is a discount of 20 per cent, which represents the government's participation in the project'.
He added that the owners of the new houses can negotiate with the project managers to make structural changes to the buildings.
In addition to the 100 houses in Katembe, 24 houses have been built in Monapo, in the northern province of Nampula. Under construction are 130 houses in Ribaue (also in Nampula), 24 in Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado province, 41 in Montepuez and 20 in Mecufi (also in Cabo Delgado), and 25 in Metangula, on the shores of Lake Niassa.
Public Works Minister Carlos Mesquita told the ceremony that his Ministry has been creating conditions for the construction of more houses, including building about 2,000 houses in the northern provinces, in a project negotiated with the World Bank.
"This project, which took off about four months ago, is being undertaken in the cities of Nacala, Nampula, Pemba and Montepuez, in an investment of 100 million dollars', he said.
The Mayor of Maputo, Eneas Comiche, guaranteed that the selection of the future owners of the Katembe houses was transparent. Young people from all the municipal districts had been chosen. The monthly income of these candidates ranged from two to five times the national minimum wage.
There were about 2,000 candidates, and the successful ones were chosen by lot.
