SHHA challenges threaten house delivery

Botswana Housing Corporation has outlined challenges faced by its Self Help Housing Agency (SHHA) turnkey project.

The project, which has, since been moved from the Councils to BHC three years ago, has now delivered about 796 houses to beneficiaries while 80 are at finishing stages and 33 are at various stages of completion.

In an interview with Business Trends last week, Corporate Communications Manager, Tebogo Mmokele said the SHHA Turnkey programme faces quite a number of challenges.

These include “abandonment of projects by some contractors before they are completed; challenges with access to materials by some contractors and some areas do not have suppliers, which contributes to delays; some plots are not ready for construction which also ends up delaying projects; limited involvement by beneficiaries during the construction of their houses and some fail to provide storage and water for construction, which delays the projects.

“He said that when the contractor abandons a project, the corporation appoints another one; adding that, “we however can take them to task or terminate depending on the circumstances.” Contractors are however paid upon completion of stages.

Mmokele indicated that BHC is committed to engaging all stakeholders such as beneficiaries, local authorities and contractors to deal with these challenges and ensure that projects are delivered accordingly as per the expectations of the government.

Asked about capacity, resources and timeous delivery, Mmokele noted that BHC is capacitated enough to run SHHA turnkey projects. “This is evidenced by some projects which were recently completed on time and on schedule in places such as the North East, Ghanzi, Maun and Moshupa/Manyana.

We are hopeful that more projects will be delivered on time in the future,” he added.