Somalilandsun – Forty-two families that, hitherto, lived mostly in one- and two-room corrugated iron lean-tos at the Police Line compound took over keys to own homes built for them by Dahabshiil.
The strip on which the forty homes were crowdedly built on side-by-side, back-to-back would serve as a parking ground for Dahabshiil Bank International although ownership would still remain with the state.
The Minister for Interior, H.E. Ali Waran Adde officially cutting the ribbon off the new homes, on-site, highly spoke of the cooperation that the people moved showed, saying “you now have homes of your own where yesterday you were squatters on State-owned land your wholehearted acceptance of which is reflected on the cooperation you have shown the police Command organizing the move right from the start”.
The Minister, also, spoke at length of how far schemes on which the business community and the public jointly undertook can go.
“Dahabshiil has shown us that our conscience is still alive by building these houses on a prime area close to the center sparing neither money nor effort to handover own homes to the families of police, military and custodial corps officers living on borrowed out of which they could have been evicted without compensation if the State so required for greater purposes,” the Minister told members of the families who jubilantly received their new homes with gratitude.
The Commander of the Somaliland police Forces, General Abdullahi Fadal Iman, told the resettled families that the police command saw to it that the families did not go empty-handed as they interceded with Dahabshiil on their behalf, and were received well.
“Dahabshiil accepted our proposal and told us that it will build own homes for all the families occupying the narrow strip adjacent to the northern side of the 8-storey city center building that was recently inaugurated as a multi-purpose business center at Hargeisa city center, opposite the central police station.
Abdi Farah Ahmed, the Deputy CEO of Dahabshiil, speaking at the site, stated that the company took extra care to give construction bids to companies screened for their expertise, and that Dahabshiil made sure that all the homes were built to afore-agreed specifications.
“Today, we are handing over homes that are fully fitted with water and electricity. The company always stands behind its people, and this project is a typical example of the altruism of Dahabshiil a reflection of the company’s traditional spirit of its corporate social responsibility vision,” Abdi said.
Mr. Abdi Farah profusely thanked the families who have moved in on the cooperation and appreciation they have shown for the gift homes received, promising that the company will continue giving back to its public whenever possible, wherever possible with the sole intention of contributing to the development of living standards and family livelihoods.
He, also, promised water trucks to fill up the water tanks each of the homes was fitted with until the Hargeisa Water Authority installed water meters for each household, after which piped water could function properly.
“I am grateful to everybody who has taken part in making these homes a reality, especially the company that has given us the title deeds to these homes. We lived on land that was not ours, and today, we are holding keys to own houses without contributing a penny to it. I thank God. I wholeheartedly convey my blessings to the Minister, the Police Commander and Dahabshiil for making this happen,” a lady among the new home-owners said.
One of the officers whose family moved to the new units said: “we express incalculable appreciation to all of you who have ensured that by moving we did not lose anything but to the contrary were given fully built housing units whose ownership wholly reverted to us”.
