MHLIT announces ambitious housing project
To mark World Habitat day, the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport (MHILT) announced an ambitious project to build 3000 housing units in six years, now that the 24 houses in 24 districts in 24 months project is nearing completion.
The new social housing project will include enlarging current estates such as Les Mamelles lower and Vilaz Orchid at Grand Anse Mahe, as well as creating new communities. It is expected that 1034 houses are to be built on (reclaimed island) Ile Aurore.
The Principal Secretary for Infrastructure, Yves Choppy explained that the ministry is still in the planning phases of the project.
“What the 24/24 housing project has taught us is that planning is imperative to ensure that the project is completed on time and within the established standards,” he said.
“We have finished that project later than expected as there were certain issues with the sites as well as others that we had not foreseen while planning for it. Whereas with this new mission involving 3000 units we are taking time to properly examine the different sites we will be working on so as to prevent delays in completion of the project.”
Some 45 potential sites will be used for the project that is being funded through a grant Seychelles received from the Indian government, although the exact cost is yet to be established, it is estimated at SCR 3.3 billion.
The announcement of this new project also coincides with the ongoing election campaign, but the Minister for Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Use, Pamela Charlette was quick to reassure the media that the announcement was not another campaigning ploy.
“We are simply announcing on world habitat day that since we have nearly completed the previous project, this is the next step the ministry is planning to take – which happened to be during the elections campaigns,” she said.
“President Faure had also mentioned the 3000 social housing project during his State of the Nation Address,” she added.
Meanwhile, for the 2,981 social housing applicants still waiting to be assisted through MHILT’s projects, they will have to go through the points system to determine whether they are eligible.
“Your current housing situation will determine what type of unit you are eligible for and as the points system has detailed information of active applicants, this will help to better place people in the appropriate units to suit their family’s needs,” explained the Principal Secretary for Housing, Mr. Denis Barbe.
