CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter focuses on the background study of housing construction and management. It brings out the aspect of how housing construction is being managed from the world at large narrowing it down to Africa, to Cameroon and down to the study area Bambili. The study area will be located which will guide the study to bring out the research problems, from which related literature guiding the study would be derived. This would be followed by the research problem from where the research questions will be generated leading to the objectives and hypotheses. The chapter will be rounded up with the importance of the study to the various stakeholders and the chapter synthesis.

Background to the study

From time immemorial, as long as humans have existed on earth, shelter has been an integral and fundamental part of human existence. Thus, housing is a crucial basic need of every human being just as food and clothing (Arshad).  It is very vital for the welfare, survival and health of man (Fadamiroet al, 2004), Housing is one of the best indicators of a person’s standard of living and his place in the society.  The location and type of housing can determine or affect the status of man in the society.  Kehinde (2010) noted that shelter is central to the existence of man and as such submitted further that housing involves access to land, shelter and the necessary amenities to make the shelter functional, convenient, aesthetically pleasing, safe and hygienic. Akumbu,(2011), also noted that unsanitary, unhygienic, unsafe and inadequate housing can affect the security, physical health and privacy of man.  Invariably, the performance of the housing sector is one of the yardsticks by which the health of the world’s population is measured. The World Health Organization (1961) stated that a good house should have a good roof to keep out the rain, good walls and doors to protect against bad weather and to keep out animals, while emphasizing on windows and doors to ensure good ventilation is paramount. In essence, housing quality can be judged from the physical appearance of the buildings, facilities provided, quality of materials used in the building construction, eminence of the roofing materials, condition of other structural components of the house, and the environmental condition of the house.  Hence, the inadequacy of housing in terms of quality and quantity is manifested in sub-standard housing.

The advent of the 18 century in Europe brought about the spatial organization of dwellings changes rapidly and is highly influenced by design trends, region, culture and society. Society and cultural values establish a spatial order in and around living space and reflect the characteristics of such spaces. A relation exists between space and human interactions and differences in social systems influence a variety of housing layouts. Families, or groups of people, restrain a socioeconomic structure. Despite being a small element, the family forms a core that comprises the future of a society. A family needs a certain quality space, a “house,” to achieve this function (European Union, 2011).

In Asia especially south East Asia housing construction and management is relatively more advanced especially in countries like japan and china which have large population and limited land surface. Thus, these countries are bound to maximize the space allocated for housing construction. This account for the reason why the model of housing construction adopted here for space management is vertical. This is also the case witha country like Singapore  comparatively to other parts of Asia especially central Asia comprising of countries like Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan that have  large land surface with comparatively less population like Russia which is the largest country in the world (Strauss, 2013).

In North and South America, themodel of housing construction and management is very different from each other in that; North America consisting mainly of USA and Canada are developed countries thus attracting a large number of people that migrate from other countries this makes housing construction and space management to be an integral and fundamental part to their developmental policy. This has made the net value of land to be very high especially in the world cities like New York, Washington and California. Thus maximizing space is a crucial reason why some of the world’s sky line is found in these countries.  South America unlike America that is comparatively not advanced as the North due to poverty and government policies that does not fast track space management in housing construction as the population still has vast unexploited land (Misago,2008).

In Africa housing problem is peculiar primarily due to over population, poverty, poor urban development and housing policies. All these are manifested in overcrowding and the development of slums and shanty towns which are relatively very common in Africa. Most Africans live in sub-standards houses that are characterized by overcrowding and lack of basic housing hygiene kits like flushing toilets. Africa has an acute shortage of houses for its ever-increasing population and it’s worth noting that Africa is regarded as having the worst housing situation of all continent on earth due to the common site of precarious housing conditions. Africans live both in the villages; in the towns and big cities. The housing condition of most Africans is a major call for concern (Ndenecho, 2007).

Most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have the worst housing construction and management policies especially in the town and cities as there seem to be a prioritization of space management over quality of housing especially in countries like Nigeria, Liberia and Central Africa Republic. Every available space is transformed into a dwelling or business site.  Certain problems are associated with housing especially in Africa. They include shortage of housing (qualitatively and quantitatively), homelessness, governmentsshortsightedness about the needs of the people, access to building land, housing cost in relation to specification and space standard. The high interest rate of home loans all characterized the housing and space management deficiencies in Sub-Sahara Africa (Edward Elgar, 2011).

 In Cameroon, housing construction and space management is not well developed. There is shortage of good housing, the reasons for shortage of housing in Cameroon include poverty, high rate of urbanization, high cost of building materials, as well as rudimentary technology of building. Kabir (2004) postulated that although the state government intervened by providing mass housing, only the rich and the privileged can afford it. This is true in Cameroon as even the low-cost housing project of the state is mostly for state workers. Cameroon created the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to address this issue nevertheless it is clear that the challenges of housing construction and space management in Cameroon seems to be rather increasing. Nevertheless, he opined that in spite of government’s effort to tackle the housing problems, the Cameroon housing situation is still in crisis, and sustainable housing delivery has been seriously hampered.

In order to achieve sustainable housing delivery in Cameroon, numerous housing strategies, programs and policies have emerged from colonial era to date.  However, the United Nations declaration of ‘Housing for all by the year 2000’ geared up the formulation of the renowned Cameroon Housing Policy.  In essence, the declaration suggested that housing problem could be solved within the given time frame.  Thus, in 1991, the National Housing Policy was promulgated in order to propose possible solutions to housing problems in Cameroon.  At the inception, the basic goal of the policy was to provide affordable housing to accommodate Cameroonian households in livable environment (Lambi, 1991).

In the North West Region of Cameroon, the situation of housing construction and spaces management reflects the general Cameroon situation. Nevertheless in a more precarious manner, Bamenda for example is one of the fastest growing cities in Cameroon and as such there is pressure on the housing sector as the rate of rural urban migration keeps increasing as people are in an ever increasingly difficult situation to get housing. This brings pressure to bear on the housing sector; it is worth noting that the advent of the Anglophone crisis escalated an already precarious housing problem in Bamenda city as people ran from different villages and overcrowding the few available houses. As such, people started to leave in every horrible shelters available. Bambili being a university town has an acute housing problem worsen by an attempt to manage spaces in an unreasonable and unfair manner. In that due to the increasing student population that result to the increase need for housing, the prices and rent have sky rocketed and in an attempt to make more profits, houses arebuilt just about anywhere possible in the shortest possible time periods. This has resulted in many houses collapsing especially in down quarters Bambili in Atuniba quarter. These conditions led the researcher to study how projects are managed by the Tubah council. What are the major elements/problems affecting the construction industry. The researcher intends to suggest a framework that copes with the development and the growing concerns regarding the construction industry within Bambili compared to other areas, in order to help stake holders to plan and implement construction projects in a proper way that will lead to better results and less risks, to achieve success with good quality,(Fatima 2017).

1.2 Location of the study area

Bambili is found in Tubah sub-division North West region ofCameroon. Bambili is located between latitudes 5⁰56’0” and 6⁰ 0’0”N   and longitude 10⁰14’0” and 10⁰ 16’0” E (Geo-database of Cameroon, 2018). Bambili is situated some 20km South West of Bamenda (Akumbu, 2011).  It is bordered byBambui to the north, West by Nkwen, South byKedjom-Keku to the East by Mekegeleand Fingie. It has an area of 3.697km².

Bambili is made up of about 31quarters with Mushong, Ntah II and many others. It is bordered in the North by Bambui, East by Mikengele and Fingie, to the West by Nkwen and to the South by Kedjom Keku and to the South West by Bamenda. The area hosts the University of Bamenda, it hosts CCAST Bambili. It has several religious organizations and it hosts the Tubah council headquarters. It also has the Bambili palace that is headed by the chief and Kwifon. It also hosts the BWA office and it also has the Bambili health center and police station. It also hosts several primary schools.

1.2 Physical geographical background of the study

1.2.1 Climate

Bambili has a cold tropical climate, with a dry and a rainy season. It registers an annual average rainfall of 1500mm and temperatures of about 24^oc. The average minimum temperature ranges from 13-14⁰C and the mean maximum temperature and the highest temperature is recorded in December. During January or February, ground may frost due to cold which drains in the narrow valleys in the night (Hawkins and Brunt 1965). Rainfall varies from 1780 to 2290 mm per year. Heavy rainfalls are often experienced in the months of July to September. It is worth noting that climate play a vital role in determining the time for housing construction in Bambili throughout theyear. The rainfall is relatively moderate such that building and construction work of houses can take place in all seasons. Nevertheless, there is more construction in the dry season than the rainy season considering the fact that most of the houses are constructed with sundry bricks.Thus construction usually runs from November to march for those using sundry bricks while cement block houses are constructed in all seasons.

1.2.2 Relief and Drainage

Bambili consist of undulating hills with a large plain at Mekegele and Ntigi. The hills are separated by woody valleys and interlocking spurs. The main hills in Bambili are: NguhMbonyam, Manduba, NguhAsehVumih, Mbi and Nyenebieh. The hills provide a good watershed for the areas. The Tubah council has been working on plans to protect and exploit the land. The relief is such that houses are constructed following the nature of the terrain as some houses are built with embankment to avoid soil creep and landslides. It is worth noting that the people preferably construct more in level places than in hilly places as it is observed that the level places have more concentration of houses.

The main source of water that flows down to Bambui is from Lake BambiliNtse-Ni, Ntse-Gwa, Ntse-Legel and Ntse-Nta. All of these streams simply reduce in volume during the dry season.

There is another stream Fuwong which marks the boundary between Bambui and KedjomKeku, nevertheless, these streams are devoid of fish and tadpoles. (Helvetas, 2001). These streams in addition to wells and bore holes provide most of the water that is being used in construction of houses in Bambili (Akumbu, 2011).

1.2.3 Vegetation and soils

Bambili is located in the tropical grassland zone and a good portion of it is covered with few forest patches and the vegetation is made up of mostly grass. This grass quickly dries up during the dry season although still eatable by animals. Eucalyptus lies mostly in the low-lying plains while woody valley and natural forest exist in watershed areas. It is worth noting that roofing of houses in Bambiliis done with the trees that grow there. Eucalyptusis one of thetree that grows in Bambiliamongst others that is use for most parts of housing construction and even for furniture works (Akumbu, 2011).

Soils in bambiliare fertile with lots of agricultural activities taking place there. The fertility is because of humus from upland. However it should be noted thatBambili soils are mostly made up of lateritic clay soils which is very good for bricks making, and as well enhance housing construction, as houses build with bricks are very solid due to the compatible nature of bricks.

1.3 Human geographical background

1.3.1 Population.

It is realized that there has been a rapid increase in the population of Bambili due to an increase in student population and increase in birth rates which has also demanded for more housing construction in bambili ,as seen on table 1.1 below

Table 1.1 Population changes over years

Source: JRC ( European  commission Joint research

 1.3.2 Economic structure

Economic activities of the municipality fall within three main sectors. Generally, there is: The primary sector defined by natural resource exploitation activities such as agricultural, animal rearing, and forest exploitation. The secondary sector defined by some few transformation activities like transformation of primary products into semi finish and finished goods like cassava into flour, ‘garri and water fufu’ while the tertiary sector is characterised by the provision of services.

1.3.2.1 Primary sector          

It is the economic base of the Municipality. Over 70% of the entire surface area of the Municipality was used for farming and about 70% of the population of the municipality practice agriculture (Akumbu, 2011). The highly fertile soils and favourable ecological conditions are ideal for the cultivation of a variety of crops. However, farmers are not getting the best yields for their labour because of poor farming practices and other drawbacks like the problems of pests and diseases. This is because of inadequate knowledge on agricultural modernization.This has made it more challenging; with the current rate of high and uncontrolled urbanisation with the advent of the University of Bamenda. As such, much land and space is preferably given for housing construction and management and this further compounds the challenges associated with housing construction and as a result, agricultural land is gradually been used for housing construction. A substantial percentage of the population is also engaged in the subsistence cultivation of bananas, plantains, maize, cassava, yams, coco yams, okra, cocoa, mangoes, palm, coconut.

1.3.2.2 The secondary sector

Bambili harbours very little or no industrial establishments that contribute in one way or the other to the economic development of the municipality. Nevertheless considering the increase in housing construction and population influx there is hope for the establishment of different industries to add to the few food processing industries like bakeries found in Bambili.As such, more of housing construction activities keeps on growing which offers employment and acts as a source of income that would have been otherwise offered by the presences of industries. Thus, housing construction activities are relatively predominant in Bambili.

1.3.2.3 The tertiary sector

Bambilihas provision stores, bakeries and few processing set ups. It has Barbing saloons, hair dressing saloons, bars, restaurants, tailoring workshops, whole sale shops, discotheques, carpentry workshops, welding workshops, motor mechanic workshops, documentation centres, cyber café, hotels, interior decoration workshops,. These businesses contribute to the local economy through payment of taxes to the council and employment and they constitute actors that are directly or indirectly involved in housing construction.

1.4 Statement of the research problem

The population of Bambili is growing geometrically. This has implications for housing construction in Bambili which are essential for sustaining livelihood. This makes housing in Bambili inevitable considering the population increase which gives rise to multiple interest from different people with the need for housing. The advent of the university and IRAD, (CAST) Bambili are a pull factor for people to come and settle in Bambili putting pressure and competition for housing amongst pastoralist, famers, real estate developers and the indigenous population of which all have an interest and demand for houses.

It is worth noting that the housing situation in Bambili is very peculiar in the way the houses are constructed as it is a mixture of the use of sundry bricks, cement block and even blanks. This depends on the purpose for which the house is constructed for and equally by the financial status of the owner. Due to the high demand, some houses are constructed in haste with poor quality materials. As such these houses do not follow engineering guidelines and some of them eventually end up collapsing. This has made the housing situation in Bambili worst as it is a relatively small town that has multiple functions. This wave is necessary to investigate housing construction and management.