New housing registration underway

Emnet Assefa

Ministry of Urban Development and Construction announced today the beginning of a registration for different housing schemes intended for residents of Addis Ababa City.

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia branch offices throughout the city are hosting long queues of city dwellers to register for the low cost housing  schemes announced by the city government by opening closed accounts for their savings as part of the price for the houses of their choices.

According to Amare Asgedom, Head of the Housing Development and Government Building Construction Bureau of the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction, the housing strategy introduced in 2005 with nine payment schemes aims to improve shortage of housing in 56 towns throughout the country, but the low interest in other towns has limited the project to remain in the capital for the time being.

Depending on the schemes the bank will lend from 60 to 90 per cent of the money for the houses while the rest is to be deposited by the residents as a down payment. The ministry also said that preparations for the registrations of another scheme called 20/80 and 10/90 were concluded and will start next week. “The banks are working to avoid long queues” said Amare, adding that a number of discussions have been held among the concerned offices to commence the registration process in an efficient manner.

The Ministry introduced the 10/90, 20/80 and 40/60 housing schemes, where in the first case residents will deposit only the 10 per cent of the total cost and get loans from the Commercial Bank for the 90 per cent, targeting very low income section of the society. “Residents with very low income will benefit from this scheme by saving only 187 Birr [a month] for three years” said Amare. The construction of 24,000 unites of these houses are underway.

In the 20/80 scheme for Condominium houses 85,000 housing units are under construction by the city administration, according to Mesfin Mengestu, General Manager of Housing Administration Agency at Addis Ababa City Administration.  This scheme targets the middle income section of the society.

The Ethiopian Diaspora can also be a part of the housing program, according to the officials. “40/60 scheme and forming individual housing construction associations are an option for Ethiopians abroad who want to own houses in their home country and this will be handled by the Ethiopian Embassies abroad” said Mesfin.

Registrations for 20/80 and 10/90 schemes will take place from June 10 to June 28, 2013 followed by the 40/60 and individual housing construction associations.

A new regulation governing the process is under way, according to the officials, and is expected to regulate the disparity in Ethiopia’s real estate sector.

Currently 1.2 million people in Addis Ababa live in rented houses while 2.5 million people share rooms with other people, and 375 thousand residents live in government owned houses. 70 per cent of the houses in Addis Ababa are made of mud.

Caption: A condominium site in Lideta, Addis Ababa    

Photo Credit: Addis Fortune