Board members and different country delegates of The Company for Habitat and Housing widely known as SHELTER AFRIQUE are currently meeting in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde for the 40th Annual General Assembly of the company.
Prime Minister – Head of Government, Joseph Dion Ngute who represented President Paul Biya at the official opening said the huge deficit in decent and affordable houses in Africa will require the use of innovative funding schemes and the local materials to solve.
Shelter Afrique was set up forty years (82) ago with the objective of addressing the acute shortage of decent and affordable housing in Africa provoked by an ever increasing population of the continent.
The 40th Annual General meeting and symposium holding in yaounde will not only evaluate the performance of the company but also bring policy makers and stakeholders of the housing sector to devise ways of improving the access to decent and affordable lodging in Africa.
Discussions during the 7 days focus on funding, land titling and access to loans as ways of promoting decent and affordable housing and reducing informal settlements.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, the director general of shelter Afrique; Andrew Shimponda and other officials of the company said the deficit in decent affordable housing which stands at 56 million units is a war which Africa must address to solve the ever increasing rate of urbanisation on the continent which at 52% is the second highest the world.
In his keynote address, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute representing the President of the Republic lauded the huge support provided by Shelter Afrique to African states.
He noted that Cameroon subscribed to the initiative in 1982 with a capital of 3.2 billion but has benefitted to the rune of 24 billion through different housing schemes.
He urged delegates and members of the board of directors of the company for habitat and housing to incorporate the use of local materials and inventive methods of financing in their strategy to boost the provision of decent and affordable housing in Africa.
Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said Cameroon has undertaken the development of social housing scheme which has already seen the construction of some 2660 units in different parts of the country.
Cameroon’s Minister of Urban Development and Housing takes over the Presidency of Shelter Afrique during this General Assembly in Yaounde.
Deliberations at the 40th general assembly of Shelter Afrique shall be sanctioned by a declaration dubbed the Yaounde Declaration
Source: Crtv
