Cameroon: new National housing policy in gestation

The draft document was under review this Tuesday, April 03^rd 2018 at the ministry of housing and town planning during a session that brought together all the stake holders in the housing sector.

The deliberations were placed under the auspices of the minister of housing and town planning, Jean Claude Mbwentchou. It was an occasion for the participants to access the present needs of housing in Cameroon and evaluate government’s dispositions as well as re elaborates the architecture of the housing code which today no more responds to the actual challenges.

The minister of housing and town planning who commanded the study carried out that led to the elaboration of the draft National Housing Policy in Cameroon  and which was on instructions of the Prime Minister and head of government, Philemon yang , told the housing stake holders to reshape the policy especially on  the following aspects;

Access to Land: land according to Minister Jean Claude Mbwentchou is vital in the housing policy but access to it with the present dispositions in the country is not easy.

Access to finances: presently to get a loan from the bank to purchase a piece of land or erect a lodging facility in the country is not a day’s job. The bank rates for lodging facilities according to the minister have to be revisited.

Industrial sector: most industrial products and materials used in the construction of decent low cost houses are costly and the stake holders here have to make it easier for entrepreneurs to use home made products by presenting incentives in the new National Housing Policy

The three points elaborated above by the minister including poor governance, lack of proper research and vocational training in the housing sector constitute some of the factors that make the present housing policy obsolete and calls for reforms

The initiative to construct decent low cost houses in Cameroon was taken by the government in 2008 to respond to the then housing crisis across the country and a total of 10.000 decent houses were to be constructed in the project. That year the government equally opted to carve out 50.000 parcels of land to sell to those seeking decent housing conditions

Ten years after, just about 1.500 houses have been constructed so far.

• 660 in Olembe, Younde.
• 660 in Mbanga Mwang, Littoral region.
• 50 in the towns of Bafoussam, Bamenda, Limbe and Sangmelima.

These figures according to a housing expert and consultant working with BRUT consulting that carried out the study on the new National Housing Policy, Mr. Ntede Nkodo H., are what is seen today because all the institutions working in the housing sector are suffering from one problem or the other. Solutions to these problems would definitely be found in the new National Housing Policy.