Background
In the past decade, the Government of Chad has undertaken numerous efforts to improve urban development and housing conditions in the country, including the preparation of Urban Development Plans (PUR) for the capital city N'Djamena and several secondary cities, the formulation and adoption of the National Housing Strategy in 1998/99 and the formulation of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2002. In line with the President's official declaration in 2003 to provide all citizens of the country with a decent home, this project reflects the Government's willingness to use a significant part of the country's oil revenues to improve the living and housing conditions of the poor. In that context, and in order to implement its national urban development and housing policy, the Government has decided to undertake major related project activities that cover three phases of three years each. The present Phase I of the project focuses on land development in new settlement areas, rehabilitation and renovation of inner-urban areas, housing construction, urban planning, and related capacity-building for involved government and private sector institutions and agents. This project will contribute to the Millennium Development Goals and Targets, particularly Goal 7, Target 11: "Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 millions slum dwellers, by 2020".

Activities

• Production of serviced plots in N'Djamena during the first year of the project's execution and the production of an increasing number of plots in N'Djamena and secondary cities in the following years.
• Development of registered and rehabilitated plots in an existing inner-urban area of N'Djamena, and the extension of the programme in the following years within the capital city and to secondary cities.
• Establishment of credit facilities for house construction activities for low-income families, linked to a supply mechanism for building materials and introduction of credit facilities for house improvement and renovation activities.
• Capacity-building through staff reinforcement and training at central and local government institutions, as well as at NGOs and CBOs.
• Revision and up-dating of urban planning and housing-related legislation and introduction of new institutional mechanisms such as the PROVITHAS (provider of serviced plots) and the FPHS (provider of housing financing credits).
• Establishment of a priority list for urgent urban investments.

• 960 serviced plots in the first year of the project's execution in N'Djamena; 2000 plots in the second year; 3000 plots in the third year
• 350 registered and rehabilitated plots in the first year of the project’s execution in N'Djamena; 1500 plots in the second year; 3000 plots in the third year.
• 600 credit facilities for low-income families established during the first year (others to be established in the following years by the newly founded FPHS).
• 262 credit facilities in the first year of project's execution for the renovation of the existing housing stock; 1027 in the second year; 2608 in the third year.
• Staff trained at central and local levels of administration, including on-the-job training, workshops, seminars and study tours.
• Key legislation and planning tools up-dated.
• Institutional mechanisms PROVITHAS and FPHS created.
• Urban priority investments identified and undertaken.