Masebo calls for shift from traditional building materials

Masebo calls for shift from traditional building materials
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Friday April 11, 2008 [04:00]

THERE is no country that can claim to have attained the objective of adequate shelter for all its citizens, acting Indian High Commissioner to Zambia Oscar Kerketta has said. And local government minister Sylvia Masebo said there is need for Zambia to move away from traditional building materials and look at other alternatives to satisfy the growing demand for shelter.

During the Indian exhibition-cum-seminar on low cost housing techniques and technologies on Wednesday, High Commissioner Kerketta said inadequate shelter and homelessness were growing in developing countries.

He said the deteriorating living conditions also brought with it the problems of health, safety and security for the majority of the population, particularly for the people in the low-income group.

High Commissioner Kerketta said most governments had recognised that shelter and development were mutually dependent and had given it due emphasis.

He said although progress had been made in many developing countries, the construction sector continued to face challenges.

"One option to tackle these challenges is the use of non-conventional building materials based on local resources from forestry, agriculture and industrial wastes," he said.

The high commissioner said technologies based on local resources from forestry, agriculture and industrial wastes not only help in reducing the dependence on natural resources for basic raw materials but also provide cost-effective alternatives in terms of energy efficient and environmental friendly building materials.

He said research and development efforts in India had established that many of these materials could effectively substitute expensive conventional materials like cement, steel and wood.

High Commissioner Kerketta said there was need to provide building materials by masses and not by mass productions at centralised locations in order to meet the need of affordable housing in developing countries.

And Masebo said Zambia was a rich country, which had materials that could be used for construction but that these were avenues that had not been explored.

She said the challenge was to build houses that were pro-poor.
"With these floods, we often hear of houses collapsing and this is because the materials that are used are not strong enough to withstand wind. Water and sanitation is another challenge and the local authorities have been asked to help in the upgrading of squatter compounds," she said.

Masebo said plans were under way to undertake a housing stock survey so that correct statistics were readily available for planning purposes.

She said most districts did not have approved or updated plans and the ministry would like to see integrated development plans prepared in all the 72 districts.

Masebo also said the ministry had initiated a national housing bonds programme to mobilise relatively cheap long-term finance for housing development for districts.

And India's Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation secretary Hargit Singh Anard said India would like to engage with Zambia in areas of human resource and capacity building.