AfDB provides Togo with $5.13 million for its 20,000 homes project

Infrastructure

Tuesday, 02 May 2023 13:25

AfDB provides Togo with $5.13 million for its 20,000 homes project

(Togo First) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) is giving $5.13 million to build 20,000 cheap homes in Togo. Announced last week and validated on 26 April 2023, the facility will fund the feasibility studies for the project.

The West African Development Bank also disbursed almost a million dollars ($932,893.83) for the project, which should benefit around 100,000 people or 1.25% of Togo’s population, according to the AfDB.

Experts think the 20,000 homes project can boost social inclusion and accelerate progress in Togo. Making homes affordable, they believe, should improve access to education, healthcare, and jobs, and overall positively impact beneficiaries.

The 20,000 homes project aligns with the 2025 roadmap of Togo. In a context where the country, in 2019, recorded an additional house deficit of 15,000 homes, bringing the total deficit of decent homes to 500,000. In the same year, only 1,800 homes were built. The project also aligns with AfDB’s 2021-2026 country strategy for Togo.

Access to decent housing is indeed a challenge for most Togolese. And that is why the government is doubling down on efforts to change things. Lomé reports that in 2018, 93% of the economic activity was informal, and the minimum wage was $63. Meanwhile, cheapest homes built by developers cost on average $24,763, more than 28 times the average annual income per capita–$880 (CFA520,000).

To move the delayed 20,000 housing project forward (it should have been implemented under Togo's 2018-2022 national development plan), Lomé considered, in 2021, a draft decree authorizing the establishment of a land reserve. Subsequently, Togolese authorities announced the establishment of a land reserve in the cantons of Dalavé and Kpomé in the Zio prefecture on an estimated area of 1,177 hectares, around 30 km from Lomé.

Written by: Fiacre Kakpo

Translated from French by Schadrac Akinocho

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