By Assan Bah
Hamat N.K. Bah, the Minister of Lands, Regional Government and Religious Affairs, on Thursday, July 4 disclosed the government’s plans to provide an affordable housing scheme for all Gambians.
He made this disclosure at his office during the launch of the two task forces responsible for investigating all illegal activities on the Tanbi Wetlands in Cape Point and Jehswang and the government-designated layouts and reserved lands.
He said: “I don’t believe in giving people land especially those who cannot build it because you end up improvising them, giving it to others for nothing.
He said the government plans to build affordable houses for all Gambians with a long-term mortgage. “We want to build houses that are affordable for Gambians with a long-term mortgage of 25 to 30 years, which is the rent you are paying, will go to the cost of your house. In that case, you are not paying rent to the businessman to enrich himself instead you will be paying rent for your own house,” he said.
Bah said the government has engaged the IMF to support them with a mortgage bag.
He said the government through the Ministry of Finance has written to the IMF for the mortgage bag and they are willing to support the initiative, adding both a Technical Committee and a Directorate of Housing will be established.
“We believe our international financiers will give us devices to start between 5,000 to 10,000 houses by December 2025 and this will address the issue of housing pathways because you cannot serve [your country] for forty (40) years and you are not able to own your house and you end up paying huge rent,” the outspoken minister said.
He further said: “There are people when they retire, they will have nowhere to go and they will either remain in the camps like the army or the police and this is a serious disaster. Somebody served you for so many years and retired, but did not have anywhere to go.
“When some died, immediately after their death, in two weeks, they will be given notice to vacate the houses because they cannot pay. This needs to be addressed and the only way to address it is to provide an affordable housing scheme. We cannot all buy what the estate agencies are selling to us,” he stated.
According to him, he did not believe giving the poor land would be the solution to their housing problems, saying, “I don’t believe giving people land particularly to those who cannot build it because they will end up improvising them. They will sell them to those who have money and in four to five years, they will develop them and make millions out of them because the poor will come and rent these houses at an expensive rate and start struggling again.”
This, he said, prompted the government to initiate a program called the ‘Affordable Housing Scheme’ in the country.
“We are determined to address the issue of housing, we will raise the money. We want to make sure that we get houses that can house the majority of Gambians,” he highlighted.
He, however, called for collective efforts from the public, private citizens and international partners, saying, “The issue of housing can only be addressed when all Gambians come together. These two task forces will enable us to do land banking and when such projects arise we will only use these lands.”
