MHILT prepares to embark on ambitious 3,000 houses project |06 October 2020
(L to r) PS Choppy, Minister Charlette and PS Barbé during the press conference yesterday to give details of the 3,000 houses project (Photo: Anel Robert)
As the 24 housing projects in 24 district in 24 months project comes to an end ‒ albeit a delayed one ‒ the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport is preparing to embark on a more ambitious project: 3,000 houses in six years.
Initially announced by President Danny Faure in October 2018, following his official visit to India, the 3,000 houses project has been estimated to cost R3.3 billion, to be funded in parts through a combination of grants and loans from the Indian government.
A total of 45 site areas in 25 districts, including on Ile Aurore, have been identified for this monumental national housing project. All of these sites are state owned.
On the occasion of World Habitat Day ‒ observed each year on the first Monday of October ‒ and the Habitat Week, the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport (MHILT) yesterday provided further details on this upcoming project.
This year’s World Habitat Day is being observed under the theme ‘Housing for All: A Better Urban Future’.
“We have practically completed the designs for 13 of these 45 potential sites, our architects and engineers are working on another 10 sites at the moment and topography surveys are being conducted on 15,” said principal secretary for infrastructure, Yves Choppy. Following the design phase, the next phase will be consultations on district level on how these projects should be developed.
The ministry is in negotiations in regards with eight other sites for pre-planning procedures with the Seychelles Planning Authority as well as road access and way leave.
Work however will not start on any of these 45 projects until next year.
Eighteen among the 45 projects are expected to be re-development projects of old estates or worn out buildings.
These re-development projects include: ex-daycare in Bel Air, ex-emergency Corsair and ex-emergency Kashogi in Bel Ombre, ex-Société Du Logement Pascal Village and Dan Gala in Beau Vallon, Upper Petit Paris and ex-PSSW site Cascade, Union Vale (ex-Emergency house re-development) and Union Vale housing project phase 2 English River, ex-teachers and ex-police houses on La Digue, Les Mamelles lower, Corgat Estate phase 4 in Mont Fleuri, ex-teachers site Port Glaud, ex-Société Du Logement and Kan Gard Plaisance, ex-Morel phase 2 and Belonie emergency units in Saint Louis.
These 3,000 houses form part of the government’s social housing programme and hence houses under this programme will be allocated based on the point system.
A great majority of these houses will be concentrated on Ile Aurore, off the coast of Anse Etoile, and districts in south Mahé where plots of land are more sizeable.
According to the principal secretary for habitat Denis Barbé there are a total of 2,168 applicants, as of July 2020, who are actively making payments towards their future home.
With the 24 housing projects in 24 house in 24 months (24/24/24) losing the ‘24 months’ nomer because some projects delayed, six years would seem a very ambitious timeframe for the construction of 3,000 houses.
In addressing this, Minister Pamela Charlette acknowledged the delays which had been caused by various challenges yet noted that she is satisfied with the overall 24/24 projects.
“However there are things that we can improve on and have improved on such as the standard design we have now adopted. We encountered issues with planning which is why we are now taking some time to plan out these 3,000 houses because we have seen the deficiencies in rushed planning,” said Minister Charlette.
Meanwhile, PS Barbé noted that the ministry will still push on with its other programmes, aside from social housing, such as self-finance and condominiums catering to families and professionals on a higher income bracket and who would not necessarily benefit from social housing.
When asked why the MHILT chose this period, some mere days before the election to bring the 3,000 project into the limelight, Minister Charlette noted the announcement “has nothing to do with the election”.
“This announcement is not the first we have done regarding this project; the president made mention of it in his state of the nation address and this was also an agreement that was made between the governments of Seychelles and India when President Faure visited India.
“It is a project that the ministry has been working on for some time and the Habitat Week is an opportune time to talk about it. It has been in the pipeline for quite a while.”
For a decade Seychelles has been commemorating World Habitat Day each year through week-long activities known as Habitat Week but this time around the activities have been curtailed by the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the MHILT is hosting a Facebook game inviting users to take a selfie with their house in the background with the hashtag #habitatweek2020.
The post with the most likes and which was able to garner more friends to like the MHILT page will win a prize. The winner will be announced on Thursday October 8 at 4pm.
Elsie Pointe