Housing shouldn’t be a preserve of the rich only – President Hichilema

President Hakainde Hichilema says housing is a basic necessity and should be made affordable for all citizens.

He was speaking at the official opening ceremony of the Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) head office in Lusaka today.

“Housing is a basic necessity. Let’s make it affordable. It should not be a preserve of the rich. Understanding of demand is very important, as we do the work that we do,” the President said.

President Hichilema said now that ZNBS has a refurbished office, it should dedicate its time on delivering on its core mandate – accelerating affordable housing.

“You should not focus on Lusaka only. Lusaka is not Zambia and Zambia is not Lusaka.

“The vision of this government is to distribute development across the country. We want to decongest Lusaka. We don’t want a young professional to have a life aspiration of living in Lusaka with an assumption that you can only get quality housing. Lusaka has some of the worst housing units,” he said.

President Hichilema added that the UPND New Dawn government wants Zambians to aspire to live, for example, in Kasama and enjoy a global standard apartment and gated home.

“We would like to see Zambia National Building Society to leapfrog to get to proper gated homes which some of our citizens are admiring in South Africa.

“We want young citizens to aspire to live in a nice gated home in Livingstone, Choma, Chipata, Mansa, Zambezi, based on the demand and the growth pattern across the country,” the President said.

The head of State added that unlike in the past, government is now walking the decentralisation story in its endeavour to redistribute development to all parts of Zambia.

“Let’s take planning seriously. Let us avoid the congested locations in Lusaka. Planning is important.

“When you develop new housing schemes, they must incorporate the best and state-of-the-art planning. Engineers, let’s support Zambia National Building Society properly,” President Hichilema said.

President Hichilema further advised ZNBS to become ingenious by building houses outside its balance sheet but based on strategic partnerships.

“Do more projects even beyond what your balance sheet can allow. The truth is you are a lot bigger than what you think you are.

“You have the support of the government. You can count on us; tell us where you need help,” he said.