NAIROBI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Pan-African housing financier Shelter Afrique on Wednesday urged African governments to embrace public-private partnership (PPP) to address the continent's housing shortage.

Andrew Chimphondah, chief executive officer of Shelter Afrique, told journalists in Nairobi that public resources are not sufficient to meet the expanding demand for decent houses in Africa.

"We are therefore encouraging African governments to develop PPPs as the key mode for delivery of low cost housing at a large scale," Chimphondah said during a PPP projects training program for property developers and contractors organized by Shelter Afrique.

Chimphondah said that under the PPP framework, governments typically provide land and bulk infrastructure while the private sector injects finance required to put up affordable housing units.

According to Chimphondah, development of low cost housing is facing many hurdles, partly due to high cost of land in urban areas in most African countries.

He revealed that the cost of land contributes to approximately 40 percent of the price of houses in urban areas, hence the need for government intervention to make houses affordable. Enditem

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