Mangochi communities hail Malata and Cement Subsidy

Communities in traditional authorities (T/As) Chowe and Chimwala in Mangochi District have said the Decent and Affordable Housing Subsidy Programme (Dahsp) has brought significant change to their lives.

The communities said this on Saturday at Mtenje Village in T/A Chimwala’s area during a monitoring visit to appreciate what the project has achieved since it was launched four years ago.

In an interview, one of the beneficiaries, Halima Wadi, 44, said the programme has changed her life as she now owns a good house.

She said: “I was living in a grass-thatched house which was leaking during the rainy season.”

Another beneficiary, Davie Chibwana from Piyasi Village in T/A Chowe hailed the programme, saying it has enabled him to build a decent house which is resilient to climatic shocks.

In his remarks, the district’s rural housing officer Mathias Magawa said the programme’s first phase has transformed lives of 884 people in the district.

Launched in December 2014, the programme also known as Malata and Cement Subsidy, aims at providing decent and affordable housing to poor and vulnerable families in the country’s 193 constituencies. n