STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

 

DR B.S.S.DLAMINI

 

AT THE SOD-TURNING CEREMONY FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL HOUSING PROJECT

 

AT POLICE COLLEGE, MATSAPHA

 

THURSDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 2013

 

Deputy Prime Minister,

Honourable Ministers

Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps

Regional Administrators

National Commissioner of Police

Commissioner of His Majesty’s Correctional Services

Chairman and Board of Swaziland National Housing

Board

Chief Executive Officer of Swaziland National HousingBoard

Mayor and Councillors of Matsapha Municipal Council

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

One’s vision of home is a dry, warm and safe place where one can rest in comfort and privacy, enjoying a quiet repose, perhaps in the company of one’s family. Or, as the old saying goes – home is the one place where, when you knock on the door, they have to let you in.

It is, at the very least, the refuge away from the hurly burly of life, sharing offices, streets and transport with many others. At the end of the working day it is where you can kick off your shoes and put your feet up, to enjoy a relaxed evening. Above all, perhaps, it is the place where you can rest your head overnight, secure in the knowledge that you will wake up refreshed and ready to tackle the next day.

For millions in the world, however, it is a harsh reality that there is no home to go to at the end of the day, and a significant percentage of those millions end up on the street. We can all visualize what a challenge that is to enjoying a decent life.

In Swaziland, we have that problem for some of our citizens, albeit to a considerably lesser degree than in most parts of the world. Homelessness is a function of poverty and until we can eradicate poverty there will always be people without a roof over the head. In our country, a significant difference between us and many countries around the globe is that we, as a Government, do care about the disadvantaged, and have social services to provide assistance. And, furthermore, our Nation embraces a generous culture known as the extended family.

Within the subject of accommodating the homeless, although considerably less severe in its characteristics and implications, is the shortage of institutional housing for certain groups of public servants – in particular, those who are required to accept a posting away from home or to be near to the place of work for operational reasons. For such people we are obliged to provide accommodation but for some years the reality has been that we have not had the financial resources to do so.

This problem has been most evident among what we call the “essential services,” which includes the Defence forces, Police, Correctional Services, Fire and Emergency Services and the health and education sectors. By necessity we have been obliged to place many thousands of public officers in accommodation already occupied by other public servants. As can be imagined, the sharing of private accommodation for all concerned quite simply removes most of the attractive aspects of having a home, and invariably creates an unsatisfactory degree of congestion.

In 2009 we, in Government, were commanded by our Head of State to acknowledge our responsibility to provide proper housing to those public servants who required institutional accommodation. Given the demand for a very substantial housebuilding programme against the emergence in that year of a severe fiscal challenge within the public sector, and the subsequent years of slow recovery, it was necessary to come up with an innovative solution. And what we are launching today is just that!

 It is, of course, the Institutional Housing Project and one that contains many highly commendable features.

 In the first instance in the spirit of what might be termed a quasi-public:private partnership (PPP), Government contracted its specialist housing construction and management parastatal, the Swaziland National Housing Board (SNHB), to undertake the Project, secure the finance, carry out the construction and subsequent management and maintenance, and then recouping these costs through monthly rental charges to Government.

SNHB started with the homework – that is, a very thorough analysis of the current situation facing the target group for Phase One. This analysis focused in the first instance on the Royal Swaziland Police, His Majesty’s Correctional Services and the National Fire and Emergency Services. The evidence was revealing and thoroughly convincing, and has clearly demonstrated an essential housing need for over 4,000 members of staff. The current situation has, in many instances, shown three families having to share the same accommodation - a situation that simply cannot be left unaddressed. And, furthermore, better housing facilities will have a very positive effect on staff morale and efficiency at the workplace.

Phase 1 of the Project was then designed and planned with a view to building 42 blocks across the country in a broad national distribution that will also include the necessary housing and infrastructure needs for the Sikhuphe International Airport.

A further positive feature is the extent to which our own local financial institutions have been utilized for securing the funds. These are principally the Public Service Pension Fund and the Swaziland National Provident Fund. Both entities accumulate substantial amounts of finance from public sector salary deductions and, facing the requirement to place a specific portion of their resources within Swaziland, here is an ideal way of putting the funds to productive use in the domestic economy and meeting a crucial local need.

Although this Phase represents only a portion of our total new institutional housing needs, this is nevertheless a very substantial project that carries total project costs of in excess of E350 million. With priority given to small and medium scale Swazi contractors who meet SNHB’s procurement criteria, one can visualize the valuable boost this will give to the local economy and our job creation targets.

And, of course, from a financial perspective, the fact that Government can pay as it goes, so to speak, instead of having to fund the Project up-front, is of considerable assistance in keeping our recurrent expenditure down to reasonable levels.

Having said that, there is still a cost to Government. In this first Phase that cost will be around E40 million per annum, and this brings into sharp focus the need to continue to improve our management of costs at the same time as securing a higher level of public revenue. In this regard, we need to constantly remind ourselves that we cannot indefinitely rely on what is a welcome, but unpredictable, source of revenue arising from our membership of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). We must all play our part in increasing the level of domestic revenue, not the least of which is meeting our moral obligation to pay all assessed taxes and duties.

The stage is now set for the first Phase of this quasi PPP to move ahead as planned under the overall supervision of a Government Steering Committee chaired by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

And there are other compelling needs within the Public Service. The next Phases that will meet those requirements must follow as soon as is financially viable. We must take the necessary steps to create that viability. The prioritisation and effective management of our public sector costs, and the maximization of domestic revenue lie at the root of creating that viability.    

SNHB has over 25 years’ experience of the design, building and managing of rental housing projects. All is now in place for this Phase of the Project to be commenced in the 2014/15 financial year. On behalf of His Majesty’s Government we give our very best wishes to SNHB and all those contractors and staff who will be engaged for the Project. It is now my honour to turn the sod to commemorate the official launch of the Institutional Housing Project.

 

Thank you.