Roseau, Dominica – July 15, 2008…..The colossal impact of the Government’s Housing Revolution programme on the country was outlined in detail when Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit presented the 2008 Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals to Parliament last week.
According to the Prime Minister, during the fiscal year 2007/2008, an additional 50 squatters were regularised at $1 per square foot, taking the number of families who have benefited under this programme to 220.
During the course of his two hour and twenty minute budget presentation, the Prime Minister also highlighted some of the other successes of the Housing Revolution in the 2007/2008 fiscal year. These include:
· Under the special mortgage programme at the AID Bank, a total of $5 million was made available to be on-lent at 5 percent interest. To date 51 loans have been approved and $4.5 million has been committed
· An amount of $7 million was made available to the Government Housing Loans Board all of which have been disbursed to targeted groups of persons at 4 percent interest. Forty-nine loans for new home construction were approved under that facility
· An amount of $4.7 million was spent to repair over five hundred (500) homes in twenty-eight(28) communities island-wide under the housing repair and sanitation programme
· Work started in the 2007/2008 fiscal year on the construction of forty-one (41) houses in the Carib Territory. Contracts were awarded to six(6) contractors, valued at $3.7 million
· Four houses were constructed to accommodate families who had to be relocated to make way for construction of the new Salybia primary school at a cost of approximately $300, 000
· Work progressed satisfactorily at Hillsborough Gardens. Twenty (20)of the thirty(30) houses are 95% complete to include painting, tiling, plumbing and electricals while the remaining 10 are in an advanced stage of construction
· Work also progressed on the housing development at Bellevue Chopin. Seven(7) of the eleven houses are 95% complete while the remaining four(4) are in an advanced stage of construction
· Construction started on fifteen (15) houses in Chance, Portsmouth. Forty-one houses will be built in Chance at a cost of $3 million.
· Work started on the construction of twenty(20) houses in Dublanc and Bioche and several persons in those communities benefited from the housing repair and sanitation programme
· Site and service infrastructural development in Union Estate, Jimmit Phase 1V, Yam Piece and Glasgow, Cotton Hill in Lagoon, Chance in Portsmouth, Lily Valley in Trafalgar, Hillsborough Gardens in St. Joseph and Geneva and Grand Bay, while sub-divisions were planned for Canefield Extension Phase 1 and 11, Plat Ma Pierre in Colihaut and Castle Bruce
The Prime Minister used the opportunity to highlight once again the contribution of the Venezuelan and Chinese governments for their generous support of the Dominica Government’s ambitious housing programme.
” In that regard, the Government of Dominica wishes to thank the Government and People of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for their generous support and the People’s Republic of China for making the funding available for this very historic housing revolution in the Commonwealth of Dominica,” Prime Minister Skerrit stated.
