Eight housing projects  on track despite delays |17 May 2023

Bel Air

By Diane Larame

The Minister for Lands and Housing, Billy Rangasamy, has said he was very satisfied with how eight housing projects were progressing, and despite a few setbacks here and there, most on the projects will meet their deadline.

Minister Rangasamy was speaking after visiting the eight affordable housing units in different districts on Mahé yesterday from morning till noon, accompanied by the principal secretary for Housing, Denis Barbe, and chief executive of the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA), Jitesh Shah.

“I am very encouraged by what I saw this morning as a majority of the project sites is complicated and tricky, however so much has been done. I am very proud of the SIA team, the remarkable and sustainable way in which they have used the terrains, exploiting it to its maximum,” said the minister.

He added that there are currently 106 units under construction which would benefit 106 families. “There were a few setbacks and complications while dealing with sit-in tenants in the past, however we were able to sort out the issue and we are now back on track,” he said.

Minister Rangasamy said that all projects will be delivered this year.

The first site which was visited was Au cap, which is an 8-unit project with 3 bedrooms each, with an estimated cost of R7.1 million. Mr. Shah said this unit is a bit different from the rest as it was a pilot project, undertaken by SIA and the Green Island Construction Company (GICC).

“The fact that GICC is a contractor that is basically a government-owned entity, we did this project to educate ourselves about construction expenditure,” he said.

He said the pilot project was necessary to establish the real cost of construction in Seychelles, especially for housing projects.

“This project gives us the opportunity to set a standard,” he said.

The second housing project visited yesterday was in Roche Caiman, which is also an 8-unit project, consisting of 3 bedrooms, with an estimated value of R7.03 million. The project is expected to be completed next month.

The Corgat Estate housing project has a total of 16 units; 8 of which have two bedrooms and the other eight having three bedrooms, costing R17.9 million. This project is 35 percent completed and is due between August and October.

The Bel Air housing project, which consists of 6 units of two bedrooms each is at a cost of R7.7 million. It has been extended by a month, as an additional retaining wall needs to be built.

The ministry said the Bel Ombre project is a little behind schedule as they had to re-design the foundation to reduce the construction cost. It is expected to be completed by the first week of July, although they are trying to stay within the deadline.

The St Louis project is expected to be completed in the next six weeks and it has an estimated value of R5.9 million comprising of six units of two bedrooms each.

As for the Union Vale project, it has 16 units of three bedrooms each. It is estimated that R30 million is needed to complete 24 units in total.

The last district visited yesterday was Perseverance where 16 units are being built and are expected to be completed in mid July at a cost of R11.5 million.

Mr Shah said that the total amount which is being invested in the projects is about R110 million.

He also said there will be 152 units that will be locally financed, which will start in the next three months. “For this we are expecting an investment of between R160 and R170 million, which comes from the government budget for this year and the next. In addition to that, there is also foreign funded projects, which will be in motion soon,” he concluded.

The accompanying photos show the various housing projects at different stages of construction.

Photos by Diane Larame