One hundred and six families in Seychelles are due to receive newly built government housing units by the middle of this year as part of the state's plans to continue housing its people.
The announcement was made by Billy Rangasamy, the Minister for Land and Housing, following a visit to eight housing project sites on Tuesday.
The housing units, in the form of apartment blocks, are part of the ambitious government-funded project announced by former President Danny Faure in his 2017 State of the Nation Address to build 24 houses in 24 districts in 24 months.
Rangasamy was accompanied by top officials in his ministry to inspect the progress of the work carried out so far. The officials visited units under construction at Au Cap - a pilot project using new construction methods and materials - Roche Caiman, Bel Ombre and Union Vale among others.
"I am very happy with the progress and the quality of work I see here," said Rangasamy at the housing project on the man-made island of Perseverance where his visit ended.
He said that although "demand for housing is about 3,000, the government will only be able to build around 200 per year."
The demand for housing is about 3,000 said the minister. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY
The projects vary in price depending on their sizes such as for 16 housing units at Corgat Estate at SCR 17.9 million ($1.3 million) and for four units at Bel Air at SCR 7.7 million ($579,000).
The project with the highest cost visited by the minister was at Union Vale in the central district of English River. A total of 16 units of three-bedroom at a cost of SCR30,000,652 ($2.2 million).
The minister said that in view of the cost, some of the projects are getting international funding and that those projects are yet to be tendered out.
Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean with a population of 100,000 people, has put in place housing schemes whereby citizens needing social housing assistance make monthly contributions before they are allocated new dwellings.
Rangasamy appealed to prospective tenants to continue making their contributions in order to qualify for the service.
The Minister for Finance, Naadir Hassan, in his 2023 budget address in November 2022, said there are 127 units in the implementation phase and that a total sum of SCR 1.18 billion ($88.6 million) has been projected towards the development of new housing projects.
Source: Seychelles News Agency