Bulkan to brief National Assembly on housing plans

Mar 05, 2017 News

As the country continues to grapple with a major demand for housing, the administration has announced plans to brief the National Assembly of some of actions that are to be taken to reduce the number of applications.

An artist’s impression of what one of the housing units will look like.

Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, is set to table in the National Assembly, a white paper on the government’s new housing programme.
According to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, at Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency, the white paper will provide the National Assembly with a clear understanding of what the government is seeking to achieve with its new programme.
The white paper will also provide information pertaining to the construction techniques, the method of payment for units, mortgage arrangement for recipients and the criteria for allocation.
In the construction of the houses, the government would seek to focus mainly using local contractors and indigenous materials, including local wood species.
Harmon explained that guidelines would be issued to the contractors, stating the government’s preference for the use of local building materials, taking cognisance of where the houses will be built.
The government’s new programme, which has private sector involvement, has moved away from the allocation of house lots to providing actual houses in the form of apartments and duplexes.
Harmon explained that the housing programme inherited from the previous administration was “ineffective,” since it largely focused on the distribution of house lots to citizens.
“The thrust by our government is to build communities, and this will be the focus of the housing sector development,” he said.
Cabinet recently approved the roll-out of the first phase of the new housing programme. Approval was given for $5B to be spent on the delivery and construction of 758 housing units in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10.
Minister Harmon explained that the construction of the houses and several other components of the housing programme are expected to commence in the second quarter of 2017.
The government’s new housing programme targets particularly, public sector employees, youths and low income earners.