SIC puts up  152 apartments for sale to finance the construction of social housing scheme.

SIC has put up for sale 152 apartments from 30 to 836 million FCFA to finance the construction of social housing scheme.

Cameroon Real Estate Company (SIC) launched a marketing operation for 152 high-end apartments during a press conference scheduled for May 23, 2024 in Yaoundé, the country’s capital.

These accommodations
are housed by the “Résidence le Mfoundi”, a building which also has parking spaces and commercial spaces, currently being finalized at a place called Hippodrome, an upscale district of the city of Yaoundé.

From sources close to the project, the real estate complex put up for sale consists of ultra-modern rooms, as well as apartments with one to five bedrooms. The sales prices, we learn, range between 30 million and 836 million FCFA. “This imposing building constitutes a start to the relaunch of production, in accordance with the directions of the Head of State. The profits from the sale of this product will allow SIC to carry out the construction of social housing, and to be constant in mass production, through the establishment of an industrial base by 2026,” explains the general director of the SIC, Ahmadou Sardaouna, in an invitation addressed to certain authorities in the Cameroonian capital.

In other words, due to the lack of profitability of its activity, which consists of promoting social housing, the location costs of which are reduced and fixed by the State, the SIC now intends large-scale construction projects for the development of apartments. high standard, in order to generate income used to build social housing this time. According to the forecasts of this state company, by 2035, it is a question of “regularly producing 10,000 high-quality housing units and 30,000 social housing units, to meet the pressing demand of the country’s different social strata.” . , especially low-income people, including the student population,” we read in the company documents.

Deficit of 2.5 million housing units

To achieve this objective, which should make it possible to reduce the housing deficit currently estimated at 2.5 million units in the country, the Cameroonian government and SIC are counting on the finalization, announced for 2026, of the project to build an industrial base. production of materials and prefabs, underway in the locality of Mbankomo, not far from Yaoundé. This project is itself a component of the same construction project of 10,000 social housing units in Yaoundé and its surroundings, carried out by the Italian firm Pizzarotti.

But, while waiting for the Pizzarotti project to end, a new construction project for 3,000 new housing units is already underway at SIC. Indeed, in an interview published in May 2024, live on glitz, the CEO of SIC announced the start of this project, which will extend over the period 2024-2026.

According to Ahmadou Sardaouna, the program began in January 2024, with “the launch (…) of the construction of 291 housing units in the green city (Yaoundé, Center region)”.

It is also planned, continued the CEO of the SIC, “the construction of 432 housing units in Maroua (Far North region), 538 in Garoua (Northern region) and 276 in Sangmélima (Southern region). (…) Concerning the rehabilitation of the housing stock, whose dilapidation rate is 60%, we intend to rehabilitate housing in the cities of Kotto (Douala), Palmiers (Douala), Buéa, Garoua and Maroua.”

According to SIC estimates, this program will require an investment of 453 billion FCFA. Which, however, suggests that it will not be social housing. Indeed, investing 453 billion FCFA in the construction of 3,000 housing units results in an average housing cost of 151 million. To amortize such an investment over 50 years, the monthly rent will need to be set at more than 250,000 FCFA. Which is very far from the characteristics of social housing.

In any case, the projects announced by the Director General of the SIC should enable the public company to intensify its large-scale housing construction program in the country. This, after a long period of lethargy, which has certainly contributed to widening the housing deficit in Cameroon.