Team to be set up for NHC asset recovery

A NATIONAL Housing Corporation (NHC) asset recovery team will be set up next year to restore integrity in the corporation, says Minister for Housing and Urbanisation John Kaupa, pictured.
The team will comprise officers from police, the auditor-general, attorney-general, state solicitor, Lands and Physical Planning Department, Office of Urbanisation, Finance Department and other private professionals to identity assets that belong to the corporation.
“The Housing Corporation has been run as privately owned by some group of people,” Kaupa said.
He said the NHC had been facing issues of restrictive policy framework, political interference and poor management.
Its survival is not dependent on revenue generation and rentals or creation of new properties.
“It was largely depended on the exciting property sales, without the expansion of the asset profile,” Kaupa said.
He said currently the NHC was not in a position to account for all its assets.
“There is a need to change the structure and we must also take stock of all the titles and all the properties owned by Housing Corporation and incorporate them so that we must have a register to maintain and see what properties we own.”
Kaupa said over the years, the drive to account for all assets had been attended but was incomplete.
“At this stage, the properties are everywhere with 4000 titles. Are these 4000 titles still there or moved to other titles? We do not know,” he said.