‘Free land offers won’t make NHC house affordable to all’

Free land offers to the National Housing Corporation (NHC) by town and municipal councils will only reduce construction costs borne by the firm by 20percent.

Even though this would not assure customers of affordable houses as most of the structures would sell at between 28m/-and 30m/-

Speaking to the Guardian in an exclusive interview in Dar es Salaam yesterday, NHC Director of Business Development, David Shambwe explained that the free plots of land will reduce construction cost by 20 percent.

“Once we are able to acquire the land from municipal councils we will be able to cut down construction cost by 20 percent… for that matter, prices of the houses are also expected to plummet,’’ he said.

According to Shambwe, currently prices of NHC house range between 34m/- and 50m/- which he said could drop to between 28m/- and 30m/-.

He said with a positive response from the municipal councils, the Corporation will be able to build affordable house for various groups of people including teachers, health workers and ordinary citizens

Shambwe explained that buyers are allowed to pay in installments but at first the buyers is required to deposit 10 percent of the total value of the house in one of the banks that works with NHC under the mortgage system while the remaining amount is to be paid over a period of between 15 and 20 years.

He further advised municipal authorities to purchase the houses for their workers.

President Jakaya Kikwete made a directive to town and municipal council to allocate plots of land the National Housing Corporation (NHC) under the mortgage system while the remaining amount is to be period of between 15 and 20 years.

He further advised municipal authorities to purchase the house for their workers. President Jakaya Kikwete made a directive to town and municipal councils to allocate plots of land for the National Housing Corporation (NHC) to enable the state firm to build affordable houses for Tanzanians during his official visit to Tanga Region last week

Meanwhile, Alphonse Mwakangale, a Dar es salaam resident appealed to NHC to further reduce the price of the houses to enable low income earners to afford them.

He said 30m/- is still too expensive, “the least I can afford is to purchase a house sold between 10m/- and 15m/-’’ A primary school teacher, Rehema Mubarak recommended NHC for doing a good job but said the price is too high for ordinary citizens hence very few people can afford the house.

“When a house is built by NHC we are sure of its quality and the idea of selling the house to ordinary citizens is great but most of us with low salaries cannot afford them” he said.

According to President Kikwete, construction of the affordable houses is expected to give proper settlements to many people and adorn the municipal councils.

In October last year, NHC officially launched the sale of its 496 low cost houses under a project dubbed ‘My House-My House My Life’ in 11 regions.

The houses were sold at a cost of between 36m/- and 41m/-(VAT executed) and between 43m/- and 49m/- (VAT included)


The houses are in Movomero |(Morogoro), Mkinga (Tanga), Mtanda (Lindi) Mkuzo (Ruvuma), Bombambili (Geita), Mlole (Kigoma), Ilembo (Katavi), Kongwa (Dodoma), Unyankumi (Singida),Mrara (Manyara)and Kibada(Dar es salaam).