Apex on Well Planned Housing Project in Kibaha

Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)

Christopher Majaliwa

24 May 2011

Determined to ease the rising demand for housing in Dar es Salaam and its environs, APEX Housing Development Ltd is to embark on a multibillion project to provide both residential and commercial accommodation to Tanzanians at affordable prices.

The rapid growth of Dar es Salaam city’s population has resulted into high demand for housing services but the inadequacy supply of shelters to cater for the country’s population has led into an indiscriminate development of unplanned settlements. APEX Company, the real estate firm that was incorporated in 2006, has the vision of providing well planned housing facilities at reasonable costs on the outskirts of the city centre, firmly believing that the initiative will help trim down the housing shortage that is estimated at 3 million units, countrywide.

Housing being one of the basic needs of human beings, the company seeks to deliver good quality homes for upcoming middle class in the country and develop houses in areas with improved social services-schools, hospitals, industries and many other activities which bring big number of people together.

Realistically, housing remains vital and one of the main indicators of the development in any nation, touching individual lives, be in trade, social services or industrial expansions. Housing is today one of the most talked-about economic statistics. The company has acquired

a well planned estate in Kibaha Township for 3.5bn/-.

The government had previously declared the site a township and Central Business District (CBD) hosting a number of schools and Tumbi regional hospital, among other facilities. APEX Director Nilesh Ladwa says the project to construct housing units for commercial and residential uses commences next July through December 2012. The project targets middle class people, with interest of acquiring the completed units.

Mr Ladwa adds that the company works jointly with Urban Solution which offers financial advices to their clients and Whiteknights Real Estate Investment Analysts Company Ltd which is the sole agent in identifying and promoting potential customers to buy the houses from the company. “The project which ends next year will be executed into two phases-phase one involves construction of 22 units, single storey bungalows and security fence as well as water and electricity connections.

The second phase’s blueprint starts concurrently when the first phase is on-the-go,” says the

director. Real estate business in Tanzania is not that much competitive as there are few firms in housing development, keeping the prices of apartments too high for the ordinary

Tanzanians to afford. Concerned with the housing situation in the country, Mr Ladwa says credit facilities would be availed to potential buyers of the newly constructed houses

as long as they meet the procedures in place.

The company, the director says has other projects in the pipeline. They involve house construction in Bagamoyo, Kigamboni and Kisarawe with well planned internal roads to link the peripherals with Dar es Salaam city centre from where almost all administrative and business activities are carried out.

The Director, on the other hand, applauses the government through the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development and the Kibaha district council for approving the housing scheme in the country despite the fact that acquiring land was a big problem.

He calls for readily available support from the Land Directorate to real estate developers. Mr Ladwa suggests to financial institutions to join hands in support of real estate developers and individual people determined to have decent, standard and well-planned housing, arguing that human welfare and safety greatly depend on the condition of the housing.

“Our housing services are available at affordable costs but the government and financial institutions should be ready to provide loans to qualifying borrowers to enable them acquire decent houses from our company,” he asserts.

In Tanzanian the conditions of most housing in the urban centres are not all that good, a recent study by the Ministry of Lands and Human Settlements Development indicating that about 32 per cent of the settlements could be classified as condemned, while 51 and 17 per cent classified as fair and good condition, respectively. Lack of appropriate policies on housing development could have contributed to rapidly expanding squatters in the country.

Acquisition of building plots, land titles, building permits, housing credit facilities and the

operation of the main stakeholders in housing development in the country are some of the issues widely complained of. Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania with 2.8 million people. With its population growing at 4.4 per cent annually, it has become the third fastest growing in Africa and ninth fastest in the world. Dar es Salaam population is expected to reach 5.12 million by 2020.

Congestion in Dar es Salaam city is forcing people to move to the nearby towns like Kibaha, Bagamoyo and Kisarawe that remain sparsely inhabited. Kibaha however is one of the most easily accessible towns that attracts huge number of people including investors thus the justification for the APEX project.

AllAfrica – All the Time