Tanzania clears capital arrears in regional housing financier
Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development, Mr William Lukuvi. PHOTO |FILE
What you need to know:
- In September, Tanzania paid $2.7 million as its capital contribution, thus increasing its stake in the company, with its shareholding rising to 1.72 percent, up from 1.54 percent
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania government has cleared its capital arrears in Shelter Afrique after paying the outstanding amount of $407,284.97 (about Sh937 million), the pan-African housing development financier disclosed yesterday.
Tanzania becomes the first East African nation to fully pay its capital subscription in the firm and now joins Morocco, Mali, Lesotho, Namibia, Togo and Zimbabwe which have also fully cleared their capital arrears.
Shelter Afrique chief executive officer Andrew Chimphondah said in a statement that the move now takes Tanzania’s shareholding in the company to 1.72 percent, up from 1.54 percent held previously.
In September, Tanzania paid $2.7 million capital contribution, significantly increasing its stakes in the company.
“We are grateful to the government of Tanzania for becoming a fully paid shareholder with no capital arrears.We thank the Housing Minister and former chairman of the Shelter Afrique Bureau William Lukuvi for supporting this important payment. We would also like to recognise the Minister of Finance Mwigulu Nchemba for making this happen despite the prevailing economic circumstances with countries shifting their budgets to fight Covid-19,” he said.
He noted that the firm continues to receive unprecedented support and renewed interest from shareholder following the call for recapitalization.
He said within the last six months of 2021, they received more than $20 million in additional capital contributions from Tanzania, Kenya, Cameroon, Mali, Rwanda, Uganda, Togo, Swaziland, Ivory Coast and DRC.
Among other East Africa member states, Kenya’s capital arrears stand at $17,640,640, Uganda’s at $4,976,850.4, and Rwanda’s at $1,037,005.75.
“We wish to show our indebtedness to the seven shareholders who have fully paid their capital subscriptions and to those who continue to increase their stakes in the company – it is a huge vote of confidence in our strategy as an organisation,” Mr Chimphondah stated.
Recently, Tanzania increased its engagement with Shelter Afrique, committing to provide 50 acres of land for projects featuring innovation and alternative building materials in a bid to address the shortage of affordable housing in the country--estimated to be 3 million units.
“We’re actively pursuing large-scale low-cost housing projects in both Dodoma and Zanzibar through public private partnerships and the commitment by the government of Tanzania to provide land is a welcome move,” Mr Chimphondah said.
To date, Shelter Afrique has approved financing of more than $52,246,000 in Tanzania, which has remained an active member.
