Cape Verde wants to build and deliver 3,800 houses in 2023 to reduce deficit

The Cape Verdean Government intends to build and deliver 3,800 homes over the next year, within the scope of the national objective of reducing the qualitative housing deficit by 40,000 homes by 2026.

According to documents supporting the proposal for the State Budget for 2023, which is going to be voted on in parliament this Friday, an allocation of Esc$362 million (€3.3 million) is registered for the project “Programa de Regeneração do Habitat” (Habitat Regeneration Program) for the next year.

“It is intended to build and deliver 3,800 houses, infrastructure of 60.4 hectares of land for housing, the installation of 48,000 basic housing services, the rehabilitation of 8,000 houses and the requalification of 18 hectares of land surrounding the housing,” read in the document.

The expansion of that housing program is also planned, “to improve the living conditions of poor and vulnerable families in Praia,” financed by the World Bank through the “Human Capital – Housing Sector” Project, with an amount of Esc$232 million, providing for until the end of the project to benefit “about 750 poor households with housing improvements.”

The Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Ulisses Correia e Silva, said in July that the country needs to invest €256 million to solve the “serious housing problem,” whose deficit is estimated at 40,000 houses.

“In the protection of families, housing is a critical point. The country has a serious housing and habitability problem. The priority of public investments has been the rehabilitation of the homes of the poorest families nationwide and the relocation of extensive tent areas in Sal and Boa Vista,” said Ulisses Correia e Silva, in the National Assembly.

“In the medium and long term, we will have to invest €256 million to respond to the qualitative deficit existing in more than 40,000 homes. Resources from the Environment Fund are allocated with priority for investments, in partnership with the municipalities, to allow access to poorer and more vulnerable families to the water and sewage network and sanitary facilities,” he said.

The archipelago faces a deep economic and financial crisis, due to the sharp drop in tourist demand since March 2020, due to the covid-19 pandemic.

In 2020, it registered a historic economic recession, equivalent to 14.8% of GDP, followed by a growth of 7% in 2021, driven by the resumption of tourist demand.

For 2022, due to the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, namely the rise in prices, the Cape Verdean government lowered its growth forecast from 6% to 4%. However, this outlook was revised again at the end of October for growth of at least 8% this year.

With information from Sapo

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