About 90 houses built in Swakopmund under the mass housing programme are currently being demolished due to poor workmanship.
When the area was visited this week workers were already demolishing some of the houses. The houses are part of 400 low-cost units constructed by Delta Group Holdings, who were awarded a N$91-million contract under the mass housing programme.
Industry sources on Friday said the houses were poorly constructed and deemed a health and safety risk for those who would have been allocated the houses through the National Housing Enterprise (NHE).
“The construction company did not use the materials, as agreed, when they signed the contracts. Several inspectors who visited the site said that the houses must be demolished, as they do not meet the local authority building requirements,” a source said.
The public relations officer of the Swakopmund Municipality, Alie Gebhardt, said the houses are the responsibility of the NHE. She said the poor quality of the houses was detected by a municipal building inspector after a building plan was submitted to the municipality.
“We informed the NHE to deal with the situation,” she said.
Minister of Urban and Rural Development Sophia Shaningwa on Sunday said that fewer than 100 houses built by Delta will be demolished. She said surveyors were sent to inspect the houses and they found that the houses were clearly not suitable and were in fact a health and safety hazard.
Delta has agreed to construct 133 better quality houses at the site.
