60 HDC townhouses for Bon Air South

Mitchell said while he appreciates the fact that there continues to be an expectation that Government would fulfil the housing needs of everyone, they simply do not have the financial resources to do so.

“We are all aware of the economic realities that face us. The oil price has gone down to about US$27 per barrel. The ministry doesn’t have the amount of money to finance these projects ourselves, so the HDC (Housing Development Corporation) has to come up with the money through the sale of homes, collection of rents and rent-to-own payments.

“We have our Private Public Partnership model which we will be embarking on. The HDC can provide the financing to deal with the infrastructural work, and we will ask the contractors to come in and finance the building construction themselves. What we will do at the HDC, we will assess applicants and ensure that we have purchases for those homes,” Mitchell told members of the media at the sod turning ceremony for a Bon Air South housing project at Woodstar Avenue, Bon Air Gardens, Arouca.

The project would consist of 60 townhouses on a five-acre parcel of land, which would cost $48m.

He said contracts have just been evaluated and they would soon announce who the successful contractors are.

Mitchell said the ministry has finalised proposals to encourage the use of the Private Public Partnership model and awaited final approval from the Finance Ministry to begin.

Asked whether the non-payment to contractors for previous projects that have been completed would create a problem, Mitchell said he did not think so.

“I think contractors have faith in the Government. Like any other government, their first year in office, we need to establish that all the invoices to paid can withstand scrutiny. That process has been done. We have been talking to the contractors and we have assured them that they will be paid,” he said.

He said with respect to the distribution of homes, he believed his ministry has done well, adding that there are 1,400 available to distribute before the end of the year.

Mitchell said there are 170,000 applications for Government- subsidised housing and to facilitate citizens’ ability to acquire public housing, they would continue to offer subsidised mortgage loans at low interest rates.