Final report : Cameroon low income housing project

Most targets have been met. The development of GURC institutions responsible for planning, administering, financing, and executing shelter projects has proceeded on schedule, as new governmental bodies such as the Urban and Rural Lands Development Authority (MAETUR) have been created to administer the project and existing bodies reorganized. To implement sites and services programs, MAETUR conducted topographic surveys for pilot sites to be developed at Youande and Douala, constructed site models, and carried out soil studies, using standardized terms of reference written by the Sites and Services Unit. For each project several preliminary site plans were drawn up, compared, and evaluated with the best plan submitted. Some 50 model house plans were prepared using the results of socioeconomic and cost-of-housing construction surveys of selected households carried out in Yaounde and Garoua (both surveys) and Douala (the socioceconomic survey only). Surveys also investigated: infrastructure costs; existing and proposed planning norms, codes, and regulations; and sanitation and water treatment systems. MAETUR carried out onsite manufacture of local building materials (e.g., mud blocks) for use in construction. Preliminary cost plans were then drawn up for each of the model house plans prepared based on updated costs. From preliminary plans, 16 houses were selected to be constructed by MAETUR at the Yaounde pilot site. A final selection of the best of the house plans was arranged to provide options for beneficiaries and a self-help housing guide was distributed to them for this purpose. At Yaounde construction began one month after the contract was signed; the other projects have not reached the construction stage but are in the final stages of physical planning. The rainy season has hampered progress in construction at Yaounde, however, and significantly increased the project's eventual cost. Recommendations for future projects are included.