The picture you're looking at here is one of a 1400m driveway along the new Public Housing complex of Tabacoro. A part of the funding for this housing complex was set aside for otherwise unemployed youth who are formed into enterprses for the baking and laying of pavers on drives such as these. The pavers are produced from locally-available materials and because laying the pavers is labour-intensive, many more youth can be engaged in gainful employment.



Mali has set up a state department that focuses on assisting the youth in training and enterprie management. Pavers, because they are natural and therefore environmentally preferable to asphalt and less cost-prohibitive than concrete, they represent a win-win proposition for such projects. Local industry in Tiles and pavers can be suppoted and enhanced as Mali paves her driveways and boulevards. Close to 157 million Fcfa of the total outlay for the Tabacoro Housing Development went toward such indigenous enterprise development.



Other areas of Mali life ae explored in order to afford opportunities to reduce the youth and elderly unemployment rate and to incubate local capacity and know-how and to utilize local products comparable or sometimes better than imported products.



BTW, there is a spanish solar energy concern that is soliciting Mali's public housing program to install the solar units on each public housing unit so that self-generated electricity can power the homes. I will advise the Public-housing agency to make sure these units can be easily connected to the main power grid so that the housing units can derive electricity from the main grid but sell solar-produced electricity to the grid to offset the home's consumption and need. Other than that, I think it is a good idea. It will be advisable to cultivate local know-how and manufacturing of these INTEGRABLE solar-units. Do not purchase stand-alone units that cannot be easily integrated into the main grid.

ALlez. Haruna.

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