The Wooton National Housing Development (NHDC) construction project, comprising 282 housing units, reflects the new vision of social housing and is innovative, said the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism, Mr Louis Steven Obeegadoo, on Friday afternoon, in Wooton.
He was visiting the construction project site and was accompanied by the Deputy Chief Government Whip, Mr Soobeersingh Dhunoo; the Parliamentary Private Secretary, Mr Serge Gilbert Bablee; and other personalities. The project, which started in 2019, includes 282 housing units, distributed across 47 apartment blocks of six units each.
In his statement, the DPM highlighted that the construction works are scheduled to end in January 2023 and the region will undergo through a lot of development. He recalled that the project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but also because the project had to be upgraded.
The DPM moreover spoke about the implementation of a new concept of social housing since 2019 in consultation with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development. Under this new concept, each housing complex built will offer facilities such as a community centre, a commercial space, a recreational space, a children’s playground and a jogging track, and will have adequate facilities to cater for the disabled and the elderly, he indicated.
Speaking about the construction of 12,000 housing units, overseen by the New Social Living Development, Mr Obeegadoo informed that land tests are currently underway. By the end of August, a call for tender for one third of these 12,000 housing units would have been launched and the first tenders will be awarded as from October, he stated. The construction of 12,000 units will start before the end of the year, he announced.
In addition, the DPM emphasised that Government’s action on the social front does not stop at only building houses but also includes fighting social scourges such as drugs thus the need to offer recreational facilities for citizens such as cultural spaces and sports facilities. We are talking about settling 300 families in a region which is a responsibility for the State, he added.
Each housing unit covers 66.4 m2 and comprises three bedrooms, one living room, one dining room, one kitchen, bathroom and washroom, and a front porch/balcony. External amenities comprise: pavements also to be used as jogging track; multipurpose hall; commercial space (‘Tilabutik’ and ‘Tibazar’); children’s playground; cultural space (amphitheatre); rainwater tank for each apartment block; compost bin; and, bin for plastic wastes. Infrastructure facilities include: sewage treatment plant/disposal/leaching field; evacuation system of storm water; parking space for residents; bus lay-by; and taxi stand.
The company, China Road and Bridge Corporation, has been awarded the contract for the implementation of this project.
