Alotau couple are proud home owners

By STELLA BITA
NAMBAWAN Super’s Housing Advance Scheme has once again enabled a family to own a home. This time for Job and Agnes Tapo of Alotau in Milne Bay. The couple are the proud owners of a high cost three-bedroom house at KD Development, 2km out of Alotau.
Agnes, from Milne Bay, is a nursing officer working for Milne Bay provincial health authority while her husband, from Manus, is a PNG Power employee.  Together they have clocked up to 71 years contributing to Nambawan Super.
“We are so grateful to Nambawan Super for the Housing Advance assistance that we used as 20 per cent equity for a bank loan to purchase this property. After thorough discussions my wife and I decided it was time to purchase a property and prepare for life in retirement. That was in 2010.
“In 2016, we applied for our second Housing Advance to build self-contained rooms to rent to guests visiting Alotau for business or personal trips,” said Tapo.
Currently, two of the self-contained rooms are completed and another two undergoing construction phase. The couple envisage six self-contained rooms as per their cash flow.
The couple purchased their house from KBD Ltd. The property value has appreciated over the last eight years in line with the couples plan for retirement in the not too distant future.
A delighted Agnes is encouraging Nambawan Super members to do Voluntary Contribution and maximise their housing eligibilities for a reasonable home.
“The assistance is a blessing as my husband and I did not have enough savings in our bank account to purchase the property. But the decision my husband and I came up with is the best ever decision we made and we have no regrets. I now look forward to retiring as I already have a home and means of sustaining myself in retirement,” said an overjoyed Agnes.
Nambawan Super Alotau Branch Liaison Officer, Geno Laka, is expecting more housing advance applications from members within Alotau and the province.
Nambawan Super Acting CEO, Vere Arava, is pleased with the increased number of members utilising Nambawan Supers products and services.
“I, however, am also concerned with members who are not financially literate and ready for life in retirement to come up with some good plans for retirement. I encourage retiring members or members who are eligible to retire to carefully plan for their retirement very well. They can still enjoy their old age in a financially secured way.”
Nambawan Super members are encouraged to use the NSL application to check their housing advance eligibility or visit your nearest provincial nambawan super office.
It is the largest superannuation fund in Papua New Guinea with a net asset value of K6 billion and a current membership of 165,000, and growing.