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Showing posts from August, 2009

| Broken Homes How the Eastern Cape's Housing plan has failed the POOR

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Broken Homes Bhisho is spending R360 million to fix nearly 20 000 broken homes in the province while the poor live in flimsy cardboard units and ghost towns emerge from the ruins of disastrous housing projects. In some areas of the province communities have deserted formal housing settlements because homes were so poorly built they cannot be occupied any longer. The number of homes simply having to be repaired is almost equal to the total number of homes built in the 2006/2007 financial year. While the provincial government tries to rein in its backlog of 800 000 RDP homes, a two-month investigation by the Dispatch has revealed how: View the video response from EC Department of Housing MEC, Nombulelo Mabandla Homes were built in areas where people have long since left; One project in Seymour became state-sponsored “holiday homes” for people who live in other cities and only return in December; A community in Burgersdorp was moved into cardboard houses when their RDP homes began falli

Tata test drives its latest version of cheap: The Nano Home - Low cost housing in INDIA

Low cost housing backlog in INDIA ANUJ CHOPRA MUMBAI, INDIA — Special to The Globe and Mail Last updated on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 03:00AM EDT A low-voltage light sputters to life, illuminating Parvati Mani's dingy tenement as the squeals of scurrying rats echo from the iron rooftop. Just outside, within whiffing distance, is a litter-filled open sewer. The windowless, one-room dwelling in Mumbai's Dharavi district is a tight squeeze for Ms. Mani's family, whose six members cook, eat and take turns sleeping in the 60-square-foot space. For years, the 62-year-old seamstress put aside money from her meagre earnings, hoping one day to escape the wretchedness of life in what is Asia's largest slum. But in Mumbai, India's commercial and entertainment capital, real estate is notoriously expensive and owning a house has been beyond Ms. Mani's reach. In the past decade, India's galloping economic growth gave birth to a housing boom, built around the emerging midd

Low cost housing: Developers can't cope | Daily Express Newspaper Online, Sabah, Malaysia.

Low cost housing: Developers can't cope Daily Express Newspaper Online, Sabah, Malaysia. Kota Kinabalu: Housing developers want other industries in the country to share the responsibility to provide low-cost houses for the people through general taxation. Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) President, Datuk Ng Seing Liong, said they have come to a stage where housing developers could no longer bear the cost of subsidising the public housing sector. Speaking to reporters after the 11th Malaysian Developers Council (MDC) meeting at Le Meridien Hotel here Friday, he said the recent announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that the Government was currently reviewing its low-cost housing concept and policies through the Economic Planning Unit is most welcome. However, he said the MDC urged the Government to re-assume its responsibility in prioritising construction of public housing for the low-income group through general taxation. "We total

Angola says Luanda's housing shortage is critical | Reuters

Angola says Luanda's housing shortage is critical Reuters * Luanda's housing shortage is critical* Poses a risk to security of oil-producing nationBy Henrique AlmeidaLUANDA, July 31 (Reuters) - Angola's capital Luanda, built to house 300,000 people, is having to cope with a population of up to eight million, creating a housing shortage crisis, the deputy governor of the city said on Friday.Earlier this year, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said poverty and a housing shortage in Angola could lead to social unrest in the oil-producing nation. Angola rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer.Most Luandanese live in makeshift huts without running water or electricity."Luanda was built for 300,000 inhabitants but it is home to 7 or 8 million people today," Bento Soito told journalists.Asked if the situation was critical, he said: "It's critical but we are working on it."The Angolan government forcibly evicted an estimated 15,000 people from i

Reuters AlertNet - Angola hopes tax break will make housing affordable

Reuters AlertNet - Angola hopes tax break will make housing affordable 30 Jul 2009 10:06:59 GMT 30 Jul 2009 10:06:59 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove --> Source: Reuters * Angola to lift duties on building materials for the poor * Wants to make housing more affordable * About five million people live in slums in Luanda By Henrique Almeida LUANDA, July 30 (Reuters) - Angola will exempt some imported building materials from taxes in a bid to make housing more affordable for the poor, the government announced on Thursday, following an unprecedented protest over housing in Luanda. The south-western African nation faces a housing shortage as it recovers from a three decade long civil war that devastated the countryside and prompted millions to flee to the cities. With Angola importing over 90 percent of building materials from abroad, construction projects are expensive and often come with big delays. For the capital Luanda, the result is sprawling slums that ring the seaside cit

2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum Slated for Manila; Influential Leaders in the Low-cost Housing Industry to Present Best Practices and Partnership Opportunities

2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum Slated for Manila; Influential Leaders in the Low-cost Housing Industry to Present Best Practices and Partnership Opportunities : "Manila, Aug 3, 2009 - (ACN Newswire) - Building on the success of the inaugural meeting, Habitat for Humanity International is organizing the 2nd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum, in cooperation with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to be held at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati City from 7 to 9 September 2009. This year's forum revolves around the theme, 'Maximizing Urban Poverty Housing Solutions for Greater Results.' It gathers major stakeholders from the social, private and public sectors, academe and international organizations to share best practices, solutions and resource needs for the large and growing number of people living in substandard housing environments. 'More than half a billion people live in urban slums across the Asia-Pacific region and the drift to

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Emailing: allAfrica.com Angola President Dos Santos Confident About Sustainable Development (Page 1 of 1)