THE beauty that once characterized the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) Kalulushi complex comprising of 438 housing units is slowly fading away because of prolonged non occupancy of the infrastructure.
The housing units which were constructed at a cost of K274 million, were commissioned for sale last year in July by Labour Minister Fackson Shamenda. At commissioning,the low cost houses were pegged at K450, 000 each and the medium cost houses at price ranging between K612, 000 and K771, 000 each while the high cost housing units ranged between K930, 000 and K975, 000.
The project that was started in 2010 has 438 housing units.Despite being completed the houses have remained unoccupied.The complex comprises of 19 low cost, 360 medium cost, 59 high cost
houses.The complex as well as semi- detached structures and covering an area of 35.9 hectares.
Mr Shamenda said during the launch of the sale of the Kalulushi housing units that they were not as cheap as they should have been.
The minister wondered then how the NAPSA Kalulushi housing units were going to benefit the ordinarily citizens in view of the exorbitant prices.
As observed by the minister, it is apparent that the NAPSA Kalulushi housing units were pegged at exorbitant prices and this could be the reason they have remained unoccupied to date.
The housing units which were constructed at huge cost using tax payers’ money are slowly turning into a white elephant.
So, this draws us back to the inevitable question; What assumptions were used in sanctioning the investment?
Gentlemen pakwiba tuleiba ko bwino. these houses are expensive because of the cost that was involved in. the issue of inflating invoices so that mulye mo. wen a cost accountant makes his findings, it will be expensive.
Ridiculous prices for those compound Houses! I can’t sell my pigs to buy those Nyumba yangas.
They better rent these out coz ain’t nobody gonna buy these almost white elephants
Those houses are about 10kms from kitwe which has a housing deficit. There are young proffessionals who commute from ndola to kitwe every morning.
Can someone be innovative.
In its present state no one would want to invest in Kalulushi.
How can we pay for the units. I need to get a loan from the bank to buy a unit so I put it on rent. The money I will get will be used to service the loan.
Oh! if the tenant defaults then I will find a buyer to buy my loan and then he will give me ample time to pay him back like 30 years! Good planning right?
Its all about LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!! How can gamble with people’s moneys like this due to poor financial advice!
@Jay Jay
What poor location! Complex is located in a better area opp Kitwe West, only problem is cost. After all they look well built by Zambian standards– better serviced (roads, electricity, water & sewerage plus security. They’re within 7km proximity to Kitwe & 3Km to Kalulushi TownCentre compared to daily commuting btwn Luanshya , Mufulira 40Km, Chingola 50Km or Ndola 60Km to Kitwe as some pipo do. Are you aware that even the housing complex just opp. National Heroes is empty? Is it location also when its just along the main road? Don’t argue that cos its near Mandavu, how about pipo renting in Mtendere, Lilanda, Matero.
Zambians are just poor due to economic mismanagement. price is ok, NAPSA should just review the payment mode from cash to monthly if they can’t reduce.
Why not put them on rent as NAPSA so that they start recovering the money which was spent thereafter sell them unlike the houses remaining vacant like that
Napsa should come up with second option such as reducing the prices to accomodate would be buyers or work with the mines to relocate some of its staff and give them as a retirement package at a loss.no sane person can buy a house with 99% of its neighborhood unoccupied houses for the next 10 yrs.
This was poor planning by NAPSA. They built these houses without finding out whether or not there were people willing to buy them. In Zambia, people have a choice of living in squatter compounds where they pay little or nothing. They don’t mind the filth and lack of water, roads and sanitation in these places. K700,000 for these houses is cheap. NAPSA should consider giving mortgages. For as low as K700/month, people can pay them off in 10 to 15 years at a reasonable rate. It is time the government banned shanty compounds. Unfortunately, due to corruption, the government is in the forefront of encouraging the mushrooming of shanty compounds and haphazard construction of substandard houses in undeveloped areas.
@Patrick, mortgages in Zambia are not sustainable due to high interest rates. You will probably pay something like K10,000 per month for 10 years for those houses. How many people can afford that in Zambia? If you can afford that you will probably build your own house at a very cheap price in a very short period.
You cannot pay k700 per month for those houses; unless you are given a period of 100 years in which to pay.
Those houses were built using our money so both parties should benefit and there should be concessional prices if they are to be sold out. Otherwise let NAPSA just rent out the units at reasonable rates.
…total cost is about K316, 600, 000…minus construction cost of K274,000,000 equals to about K 42,600,000 profit……..since the complex was built by the very people buying the houses….its only logical to cut down the profit to say about…K3m…because the whole purpose of the project is to empower the citizen with housing…..
…..is there a primary school near by..??…how about a healthy centre…a shopping complex, police post….
….usually such ventures can only be undertaken by bringing financial institutions…banks etc on board…..to dish out mortgages…now, if the banks are sceptical about their investment……we are in for it….location is definitely one of the factors….and the layout of the complex…..apart from the price ofcourse…..
NAPSA built these houses using our contributions. They did not obtain a loan from a commercial bank. It beats me why they want to rip off from free money. There’s a shortage of well-thinking citizens in Zambia and we will continue stagnating as a nation.
Why not put them on rent and sell them to owner occupier basis or is it sitting tenant.