Rowley turns sod for St Augustine condos

THE COUNTRY’S newest housing development got on the way yesterday at Santa Margarita Circular, St Augustine, where 148 units will be constructed as part of the Government’s housing initiative to ensure that citizens have a roof over their heads. The development, which is earmarked to be completed within 18 months, will see 48 condominiums each with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on 1,200 sq ft of land, and 100 townhouses with three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms on 1,250 sq ft. The project is being built by Uniform Building Contractors Limited. At the sod-turning ceremony hosted yesterday at the Seismic Research Unit, Gordon Street, St Augustine, Minister of Housing Dr Keith Rowley explained that the country needed more than 100,000 housing units to deal with the shortfall of housing in the country. He explained that this was proving a bit difficult since the larger demands were in areas where available land spaces were limited.

He said that Tunapuna was one such area with over 16,000 applicants from the area seeking housing accommodation, stating that the problem in this area was the availability of land for construction. He said regardless of the problems faced, the Ministry was moving forward to ensure that citizens experience the feeling of moving into a new home. Dr Rowley said the Government believed that by addressing the problem of the housing shortfall, it would significantly contribute to the overall development of the country and its people. Describing the project as the largest in the country outside of Atlantic LNG’s Train IV, Rowley said the $2 billion dollar project had the active assistance of the banks, insurance companies, construction industries and many other stakeholders, who have come together to ensure its success. On the areas of demand, Rowley explained that over 42,000 applications were made for housing in the country.

He said what the National Housing Authority (NHA) did was look at the areas of demand and use these statistics to dictate where and how to build the houses. Rowley explained that more than 26 percent of the country’s population earned between $2,000 - $3,000 per month, while only three percent earned in excess of $7,000, according to data compiled from housing applications to the NHA. Rowley said that 16 percent earned between $1,000 - $2,000, 17 percent earned between $3,000 - $4,000, 17 percent between $4,000 - $5,000, ten percent between $5,000 - $6,000 and five percent earned between $6,000 - $7,000 per month.

However, he assured that this did not mean that low wage earners would be given low quality homes, explaining that “NHA would not tolerate low quality from any of its contractors.” “Government’s policy is quite clear-cut,” stated Rowley. “There is a need for houses and we intend to build wherever land is available.” Rowley also took the opportunity to appeal to the suppliers to sell their materials at affordable prices. He explained NHA was the country’s landlord, working towards providing housing accommodation to every household.