K21m for two-bedroomed house?
On July 2, 2013 in Lilongwe Area 49 Sector 5, Malawi President Joyce Banda laid a foundation stone on the site for the MHC-Henani Guoji Dream Housing Project. The published pictures of the two, three and four-bedroomed houses look amazing. I am particularly impressed with the fact that besides these houses, the project also includes the building of a school, hospital and a shopping mall.
A few days after this launch, on July 10 2013, I read an advert in the press encouraging people who want to own a house to deposit K500 000 for 100 houses before September 1 2013 that will equate to K5 million. The other 5 900 houses need the whole deposit of K1 million.
The advert clearly said the demand for the 6 000 yet-to-be-built houses is overwhelming. No indication of the prices of the houses was made, neither were terms of payment; but a contact number was given for those wanting more information to call. When I called the following day, the details I got on prices and payment terms for these houses was not only baffling but also a mockery of justice and reality.
I immediately felt duty-bound to inform Malawians on what it takes to own these houses. In fact, I am in the process of getting a court injunction to stop the K500 00 deposits, plus indeed the K1 million for the other 5 900 houses. By letting people make such deposits before the start of the project, over K5 billion will be collected possibly as capital (i.e K500 000 X 100 houses plus K1 million X 5900 houses).
The prices for the houses are pegged in United States dollars as follows: (a) two-bedroomed houses at $60 000 (about K21 million); (b) three-bedroomed houses at $78 000 (about K27 million); (c) Another three-bedroomed house at $95 000 (about K33 million); (d) Four-bedroomed house at $115 000 (about K40 million). Now this is what I call a joke!
Even if you are rich enough to manage to buy this, it will be a purchase you shall live to regret as with such an amount, one can do far much better things or build better houses than this. No prudent human being in Malawi can dare spend K21 million to own a two-bedroomed house! The owners of this project are aware of this fact, hence sugar-coating their advert with the request for the K500 000 deposit!
The payment/ purchase terms are that after paying the deposit, you will choose the house you want then you are supposed to pay 15 percent of the value of the house after a month (thus K3 million for a two-bedroomed house), thereafter in one and half years, you are to make the payment of the balance (K17 million). Clearly, after making the deposits (that will total to K5 billion) a lot, if not all, of the 6 000 unsuspecting Malawians will fail to finish payment in 18 months, thus risk losing their money, or indeed, getting bank loans that may eventually make the cost even higher.
As a concerned citizen, I will not let any Malawian to be trapped in this, hence my decision to go to court to stop the depositing process.
Is management at Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) and indeed in government aware of these purchase conditions? If yes, which is likely, then I really understand why prosperity is hard to come by for most Malawians, because if we loved each other, we would not allow our countrymen to risk their money in such a project deal.
Imagine, the Chinese are involved in this and surely most of the materials will come from China where a lot of Malawians buy affordable but good quality materials for houses, yet we have such exorbitant prices for the houses? They may even bring the materials here tax-free in the name of the Dream Houses Project. My suggestion is that the project continues without asking for any deposits from people. Let people occupy them after finishing on fair rental rates as MHC does.
The author is a concerned citizen
Dear Writer,
Thank you so much for expressing your views on this housing issue. While I do not oppose to any of your views expressed, I wish if we were to have more concrete facts that would give a more objective view regarding the issue. I reckon the fact this nature of housing is currently on going in most of the cities in Africa. I wish to say that this similar construction in Lusaka (Foxadale resident estate) is offering the similar two bed roomed houses at USD83 000 and the demand is outrageous. The work is being done by chinese also with considerably good finishings considering this to be a low cost housing. We may also wish to learn from the Green Park villas in Nairobi which are almost the same design with the Gouji dream city. In Addis, Sunshine construction has also successfully implemented a similar project and has greatly worked to the benefit of a number of Ethiopians in diaspora. Perhaps the MHC needs to do alot more sensitizing but also alot has to be unpacked on the payment modalities. Again, my quick understanding on this issue is that the total number of houses to be constructed is 600 not 6000, did I get it wrong perhaps?
Kudos to Pilirani Kachulu for the detailed information regarding the much talked house project. I for one, totally understand and support your sentiments of getting a court order (aka injunction) to cease the unscrupulous deposition of these the monies into bank accounts by bonafide Malawias. Its utterly unreasonable to ask middle income individuals to pay such a whole load of money when one can erect an even much better structure with even less than the amount. I wish to inform Ireen Banda that your argument is overly misplaced. If you approached the issue at hand with much sobriety, you would envisage that you are almost comparing mangoes with tomatoes. If i may ask you, how similar are the mentioned nations with Malawi? GDP? PPP? Income of middle class individuals? I recall that a similar Project was started in Malawi in Kanengo sometime back, where people were asked to contribute even much less than the 21m. And do you have an idea what happened to that project? What we, the Malawians, were made to believe is that the houses are meant for the middle class people, so tell me how many middle class individuals in Malawi can afford that amount. And if at all they can, can one opt to go for a 2 bedroomed or simply build their own? This is what led to the derailment of the Kanengo Project. Let us be serious and patriotic guys, this is a botched construction already! lets join hands and stop the unconscionable and inordinate dealings!