MAUN EAST AND WEST CONSTITUENCIES SHHA TURNKEY HOUSES HANDED OVER TO BENEFICIARIES

Last week the Corporation handed over a total of 21 complete SHHA turnkey houses to beneficiaries in Maun East and West constituencies in the Northwest District. The Corporation was given a total number of 34 beneficiaries to build houses for however only one beneficiary withdrew bringing the total to 33. The remaining 12 houses are at various stages of completion and will be handed over at the end of September 2015.
 

Speaking during the handover ceremony held at Matshwane at one of the beneficiaries’ homestead, Ms. Kenanao Dithapo, the Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Housing Corporation, Mr Reginald Motswaiso said that there is a six months defects liability period which kicks in upon handing over the houses to beneficiaries. He further said that if the beneficiary finds something to be defective in their house, the contractor will be required to attend to it immediately. He urged beneficiaries to occupy the houses with immediate effect, so that they can identify defects if there are any while there is still time. In terms of the challenges experienced, the CEO shared that the Corporation experienced major setbacks due to the contractor who was initially engaged to undertake the projects. The setbacks he said involved failure by the appointed contractor to pay his workers and hence they abandoned site and this led to unnecessary delays. “We are however grateful that upon realization that we were not accomplishing what we had promised to do, we took a deliberate decision to terminate this particular contractor and engaged individual builders who as we speak are currently finalising the remainder of the houses.” pointed out Motswaiso.
 

The SHHA Committee Chairman, Honorable Duncan Enga who also spoke at the handover had this to say that there is a tendency by some beneficiaries who more often than not fail to pay their monthly instalments for the SHHA houses built for them. He also lamented that some beneficiaries change contact numbers without informing the council making it difficult for them to be contacted.  He encouraged all beneficiaries to pay up their dues so that others can in turn benefit from this revolving fund meant to benefit Batswana. When giving a vote of thanks, Northwest District Council Chairman, applauded BHC for empowering Batswana and building them houses as per the Government’s priority to ensure that every citizen is provided with shelter. He urged beneficiaries to take good care of their newly constructed houses so that their children could in turn also benefit from them. Hon. Mbulawa also appreciated Government’s efforts in line with alleviating poverty by introducing other housing initiatives which are meant to empower Batswana.
 

The handover ceremony was attended by among others local authorities, business and parastatal representatives, beneficiaries as well as the general public.