The on-again, off-again housing privatization scheme that was launched by PFDJ is on again.  The government has activated its rent-to-buy housing offering to combatants and veterans, an announcement received with excitement, anxiety and skepticism by the people.

Under this plan, veterans would be able to acquire title to the residences they are renting and the rent they had paid to-date would be used as equity, provided they apply for a loan and are currently employed and earning 300 USD per year.

The government has established a special housing affairs department headed by Brigadier General Hailbay.

But the details of the new plan are so complex; many see it as one more way for the government to raise funds.   The skepticism is caused by the fact that this is not the first time that the government has made similar announcement: in 1996, Dr. Araya Tsegay was named the head of a similar scheme: the project was aborted and he was sent to Massawa to head the much-advertised Free Enterprise Zone.

Meanwhile, the government continues to crack down on people employed in the money transfer (hawala) market.  In the latest sting at the Lion Hotel, the government nabbed four individuals, including the owner of Zemenawi Electronics in Asmara.  More round ups are expected.

In a further squeeze for funds, the government has demanded that all parents of students who graduated after 1993 show up to their local zoba [party-run neighborhood surveillance centers] to register their children and pledge that they would pay 50,000 Nkf or serve a jail term if their children leave the country.   But Eritreans continue to attempt to leave the country by crossing the border to Sudan or Ethiopia and hundreds do so every month.  Those who succeed end up at the Wed Sherifey and Shimelba refugee camps in Sudan and Ethiopia, respectively.

Those who are caught are executed on the spot.

Administration of the government houses reportedly cost the government a great deal of money and the privatization is seen as a means to cut back on administrative overhead.