THE Ndola City Council (NCC) has started issuing letters of offer to the sitting tenants of the Itawa council flats in Ndola.
The move follows President Banda’s directive in April this year that the Itawa council flats and the Masala Chinese complex houses in Ndola be sold to sitting tenants at fair and reasonable prices.
NCC public relations manager Roy Kuseka confirmed this in an interview in Ndola yesterday.
“We have started giving offer letters to the sitting tenants of the Itawa council flats. We started the process on Friday,” Mr Kuseka said.
He said NCC has started with the Itawa council flats and will start issuing offer letters today to the tenants of the Masala Chinese complex houses.
Mr Kuseka, however, said the conditions of sale for the houses will be released today.
But the Itawa council flats residents committee has petitioned President Banda to intervene over the alleged harsh conditions of sale and the purchase prices that the NCC has set.
According to a petition addressed to President Banda dated October 29, 2010, the Itawa Council Flats Resident’s Committee alleged that there is no transparency in the whole transaction as contained in the letters of offer.
“Contrary to your directive and promise you made when you announced your intention of selling the Itawa council flats and Chinese housing complex to sitting tenants at an affordable price and flexible terms of payments, the flats have been offered at exorbitant prices to legal tenants, disadvantaging most of the tenants who are widows, widowers, orphans and retirees,” the petition reads in part.
The tenants also complained that the 90-day period that the NCC has set for them to pay for the houses is harsh, inhuman and unattainable.
“We appeal to your high office, Your Excellency President Rupiah Banda to come to our rescue by reducing the exorbitant offer prices and extending the period to pay in comparison with the way other units were disposed of by the same Ndola City Council.
For instance, Pamodzi Court, Masala council flats, Hillcrest flats and other houses in the city under the Government empowerment policy,” the petition reads.
According to an offer letter dated October 22, 2010, that the NCC issued to Mrs Caroline Kayira of flat number nine made available to the Zambia Daily Mail and authored by NCC director of legal services, Moses Mwelwa, the NCC offered the tenant to purchase the unit at K40,905,000.
The letter reads in part: “Payment of the whole purchase price shall be done within three months and those who fail to pay shall forfeit their right to purchase the flat or house.”
The letter also reads that the period of acceptance of the offer is 30 days, failure to which the offer will lapse.
In April this year, Mr Banda directed that the Itawa council flats and the Masala Chinese complex houses in Ndola be sold to sitting tenants at fair and reasonable prices.
“It is clear that for the tenants of Masala Chinese complex to repair their badly damaged houses, I have to order that the houses be sold to them at fair and reasonable prices,” he said.
Mr Banda said he also decided to sell the Itawa complex flats in a similar manner.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Let them have government loans that are for 20 years at 2-5% interest.
China can give security for the loans as the whole country will be owned by them in 20 years.
lusaka times those are not itawa flats in NDOLA please make an effort to put the right picture…
What this dumb government needs to do is to put in policies which will compel banks to charge low interest rates on home loans. We need to have people build more new houses and own them than this mediocre kind of leadership.
Such stories wont win MMD votes. Just look at the response. Im 4th and this news was copy & pasted on 1st November. Whilst its good for the people to be sold houses, the news however is stale and not arousing massive debate.
Offer them the flats and write off the debts, it is called ‘Presidential order’, it has been done on the other side of C/B. Why not now! Why offer them when they cannot pay? Stu pid politics pa Northern Rhodesia!!