By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Sierra Leone Housing Corporation (SALHOC) has announced plans to invest Le65billion in a new housing project.
SALHOC, which didn’t specify the category of people the scheme will target, said it intends to raise the money from the sale of its 7th Battalion estate at Goderich. He said the Ministry of Finance had consented to buying the property.
Ing. Charles Musa, Managing Director of SALHOC, made these disclosures on Tuesday at a press conference marking his one-year anniversary in office.
SALHOC was established in 1982. As part of its many functions, it manages government owned estates, construct houses and provide loans to families for construction of homes and many more.
Ing. Musa said the reason why they are selling the Goderich estate is to finally overcome the “perennial” problem of refusal to pay rent. Occupants in SALHOC owned properties in the country are notorious for reneging in paying rents or undertake renovations, he said.
“There has been a perennial problem with rent payment by a state institution that is occupying the estate. And it is a blessing for the Ministry of Finance to have consented to buy the estate whiles SALHOC goes ahead to reinvest the proceeds,” he stated.
Musa said the property has been valued by the Ministry of Finance for Le65 billion. He said the money “will be reinvested to develop 126 Bungalows in a gated community, all in a 22-acre land space.”
A possible location of the project has not been announced either.
He added: “There is a decrease in the number of housing units. As shown, we are selling 218 housing units and developing 126, that is because the 218 are semi-detached, whiles the 126 are completely detached.”
According to the 2015 Housing and Population Census done by Statistics Sierra Leone, there is 61% housing deprivation in the country.
SALHOC has struggled for years to provide housing for the critical mass that is in dire need for shelter.
The housing sector has struggled for years to finance projects. Musa said this is because government cannot meet the demands of most of the investors.
“Some of the investors are asking for matching equity from SALHOC in addition to land. These are very difficult conditions for us,” he said.
The major clients for SALHOC properties are low income earners. This has been one of the many reasons why the corporation has hesitated in the past to take commercial loans to invest in public housing.
Musa did not announce a timeline for this new project. This is so because the deal for the sales has not gone through yet.
“All this is contingent on the commencement and completion of the transaction itself. But government is willing,” he assured.
This is not the only plan in the pipeline for SALHOC; Ing. Musa said they are pushing to build the capacity of the institution, as part of a long term journey of transformation from “property management to property development.”
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