***Like most developing countries, Zambia faces severe urban housing problems. Now, reports Gemini News Service, a self-help scheme is helping shanty families build more spacious homes for themselves. Venarcious Mwansa writes from Lusaka.***

FORTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD Michael Nkupi is a happy man. He and his family have just acquired a three-bedroom house — a luxury compared with the one-room shanty home they had been living in.

"1 feel great owning this house,'' says Nkupi. He is a beneficiary of a new Low-Cost Housing Project set up in Lusaka and three other Zambian cities to provide poor families with decent accommodation.

Nkupi built his new home with his wife. Catherine, who is proud of her newly-acquired construction skills. There are more women than men involved in the project." she points out.

In fact, about 70 per cent of the people registered with the project’s residents' development committee are female — many of them single women who are not in formal employment. Most of the men participating in the scheme are also without steady work.

Run as a partnership between Zambian authorities, the French government and two United Nations agencies, the project operates on simple yet effective self-help lines.

Participants are taught basic skills in bricklaying and producing building components such as bricks (made from laterite clay), roofing sheets, air vents and floor tiles — using local raw materials.

They are given on-the-Job-tralning from experts such as Eric Bigot, a French architect. They are not paid any money, nor do they pay their trainers, but share what they produce with the housing project.

The incoming residents use their share to build their houses, while project organisers sell off the remainder to buy raw materials, which, in turn, are used by participants to make more components.

"We pay only in terms of labour." says one beneficiary, Joseph Jere. "If you produce 2.000 bricks, you get, 1,000 of these, and the other 1.000 go to the project."

Project manager Muyeba Chikonde explains: "The emphasis is placed on activities envisaged to improve living conditions of the communities as well as enhance their knowledge and skills."

Housing is a big problem in Zambia, particularly as an increasing number of rural people have migrated to towns and cities in recent years. Sprawling shanties have mushroomed.

Councils used to provide cheap housing, but many local

authorities have run into financial difficulties and have stopped building. In addition, a directive from President Frederick Chiluba for council houses to be sold to sitting tenants has reduced their availability.

A decent house costs at least eight million kwacha to build — well out of the reach of many people, particularly the poor, whose monthly income might be only K30.000.

But under the Low-Cost Housing Project, the actual cost of building a 50-square-metre home, comprising three bedrooms, a kitchen, sitting room and bathroom, comes to less than K2 million, says Philippe

de la Bathie. French Ambassador to Lusaka, whose government has put $500,000 into the scheme.

The money is being spent on paying trainers, acquiring land from councils and buying materials that are not locally available. Wherever possible, local techniques and materials are used. 'This reduces costs to a minimum." says the envoy.

In Lusaka's Bauleni shanty district, where the project started last year. 25 houses have already been completed. One problem now is lack of available space. More than 50 people are waiting to build

"We asked the (Lusaka City)

Council for more land adjacent to the cemetery, but we are still waiting for their response." complains architect Bigot.

Such space constraints are not being felt in Kabwe. Central Eroviripe — where 25 houses ave been completed and more land has been allocated for the extension of the project in Nakoli shanty district — or in Mufulira. Copperbelt province, and Mazabuka. Southern province, where similar schemes are under way.

Project organisers are optimistic that the programme will proceed smoothly.

National Housing Authority chairman Watson Ngandu describes it as "a way forward in the provision of decent housing for citizens ". And Gary Davies, head of the UN Development Programme office, praises the efforts of Zambia's Housing Ministry, adding : "Provision of cheaper housing for the urban poor is critical."

However, life is not a total luxury for the proud new houseowners of Bauleni. They are still waiting for running water and electricity to be provided. The authorities have not been able to keep up with demand as the surrounding shanty has grown, and only communal taps have been installed. Even these often run dry.

The occupants' spirits are not dimmed, though. One points to a small room, saying cheerfully : This is supposed to be a lavatory, but since there is no water we will turn it into a pantry."

Chlkonde assures them that proper utilities will eventually be provided. He points out that their homes are far superior to those they had been living in — one room, even for families with seven or more members.

The writer is a Zambian freelance Journalist base in Lusaka.