Govt to construct houses for teachers

Cabinet has resolved to construct 200,000 housing units every year for five years in a bid geared at fixing the widening housing deficit in the country.

New Vision has learnt that the resolution is intended to address the 1.6 million housing deficit and also eliminating substandard housing units.

The resolution is contained in a new housing policy which the cabinet endorsed on May 4; a few days before the recent cabinet reshuffle.

State Minister for Housing, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi told New Vision that his ministry has started implementing the recommendations in the policy.

Baryomunsi said teachers, health workers and members of the security forces including Police and army are the first priority under the decent and affordable housing programme. He said they have embarked on identifying the potential private partners to co- fund the project.

According to the policy, President Yoweri Museveni has also issued a directive to Public Service to post a civil engineer in every sub county.

The engineer's roles will include assisting communities to develop buildings that comply with acceptable building standards and ensure their maintenance in a habitable condition.

A source said that the President based his directive on the rate of urbanization that has extended to rural areas hence eating up the arable land for agricultural production.

The policy says there are 900,000 substandard houses in the country that need urgent repair and maintenance. It also calls for regular inspection of property.

There are concerns that if population growth in Uganda continues at the current rate, by 2011 the population will be at a staggering 49 million people and that the housing need will have increased to 3 million units.

World Bank statistics show that today 1.2 billion people on the globe live in substandard housing and that by 2030, a total of 3 billion people will need new housing.