Malawi Parliament through Assurance and Public Reforms Committee on Thursday, September 3, 2015 took government to task on how the Decent and Affordable Housing Subsidy Programme (DAHSP) had delivered only 11 out of the expected 15 440 houses across he country in the 2014/2015 national budget.
This comes as the Ministry of Lands report showed that MK7 billion which Malawi Parliament approved in the 2014/2015 National Budget for the project had facilitated the construction of 11 houses.
The committee queried the Ministry’s officials after noticing poor delivery contrary to the general public expectation as whether the project was living up to its intended purpose or another way of siphoning hard earned taxes from government.
Henry Mkandawire,Committee’ Chairperson told ministry of lands officials that committee was not satisfied with the project speed hence demanded a comprehensive report on the whole initiative based on such a dragging pace.
“The committee was expecting to hear a report about 15, 440 houses but just 11 beneficiaries as it is now. The number of houses built so far are just too few compared to the amount of money allocated”, queried Mkandawire.
In responding to the query, Ivy Luhanga, The Ministry’s Principal Secretary, attributed the slow pace of the programme to tardy increase in funding which led to a late commencement of the project activities.
“Funds were accessed in December 2014, resulting in major activities being implemented from 2015.In additional to that the closure of government accounting books for 2014/2015 and the late access to funds in the 2015/16 financial year also resulted in some suppliers hoarding their suppliers.
“Since last year, the programme has been hit hard by increase of commodities such as iron sheets, a development which is likely to force some suppliers to withdraw from the project”, defends Luhanga.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led government is implementing the Decent and Affordable Housing Subsidy Programme (DAHSP) similar in nature of the former President Joyce Banda Mudzi Transformation which is not ticking on the ground.
The only different is that DAHSP provides cheaper prices to housing materials including cement, iron sheets for the poor to build their own houses while Mudzi Transformation was solely constructing houses for the unprivileged.
