7000 houses in Malata and Cement Subsidy nearly complete – Atupele

Almost 7000 out of the targeted 15, 440 houses under the Decent and Affordable Housing Subsidy Program (DHASP) are nearly in the completion stage across the country, , Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Atupele Muluzi has said.

Speaking after monitoring the progress of the program in Mbwatalika, Traditional Authority (T/A) Malili in Lilongwe, Muluzi expressed satisfaction with the level of work taking place despite some few challenges.

“I am very impressed with the quality of work and progress so far. Soon the beneficiaries will have their own decent homes thereby transforming their lives for better,” he said.

He said the program is going towards 50 per cent of completion and will soon be moving towards the magic numbers of 15,000 houses.

Apart from benefiting from a decent house, he said, the program is also economically empowering the locals by employing artisans from the same community to do the construction work.

The minster bemoaned the delay of the program to start in some districts like Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mwanza and Phalombe due to floods which affected distribution of materials at local level.

One of the beneficiaries, Chisomo Chadza said the program has transformed his life as he is among few young men in his village to own a decent house.

“Before the program, I was living in a grass thatched house which had some problems including leaking during the rainy season,” he said.

Popularly known as Malata and Cement Subsidy, the program was designed to provide poor and vulnerable households decent and affordable housing.

The program which is in Phase one was launched by President Arthur Peter Mutharika in December, 2014.