Social Housing: division over maintenance

Most housing in Société immobilière du Cameroun (SIC) is immersed in a repulsively unhealthy state despite recurring advertisements of sanitation programs.

In the camps of Nlongkak and Messa, for example, visitors can easily see the state of congestion of some pits and gutters, the defect of several facilities, dingy walls, a non-maintained garbage setting invading spaces. Who is responsible?

The occupants who one might accuse at first thought, deny their responsibility in this unsavory situation.

Many denounced the procrastination of SIC, whose contract plan with the State prescribes the harmonization of financial resources for quality maintenance. "It is true that we are not free from reproach, but you know we pay the rent to the SIC as provided in our agreement. The same agreement says we must harmonize our efforts to maintain the city. We do what we can, but the SIC, which has more resources, does not support as the unease is growing while a vast development plan was announced early this year," said a tenant.

In the SIC, a manager recognizes that the structure delayed. However, he condemns the irresponsible behavior of the occupants, who should view these houses as their own homes before expecting any intervention, and called upon them to pool their efforts. Many other Cameroonians still do not hide their difficulty in accessing social housing built by the state, eventually it has become a luxury for wealthy people (businessmen, senior administration officials, senior military officers, etc. .) where they should primarily return to the middle classes.

The housing allocation process is vague and has overly long delays when the files do not stay stuck in the drawers of the company's executives. Besides this inconvenience, people continue to decry dilapidated housing available to them because the houses are cramped, dilapidated and in need of real refurbishment.

Beyond these shortcomings, the housing sales price seems exorbitant and do not meet the social housing standards. Generally, SIC, created in 1952 and the capital held by the state is unable to fulfill its public service mission consisting of the implementation of the housing policy defined by the government.