Update on December 7 explosion at CCCL |15 February 2024

The panel (left) answering journalists’ questions (Photo: Joena Meme)

R21,050,000 disbursed  by ASP to 842 families

By Vidya Gappy

Following the December 7 explosion at Civil Construction Company Limited in Petit Paris, Cascade, last year, the Agency for Social Protection has provided help to 842 families, offering each one a sum of R25,000.

Renovation works on 175 out of 177 houses of the Property Management Corporation (PMC) have been completed, while authorities have begun addressing 193 out of 354 private houses/properties.

This was revealed at a joint press conference held yesterday at the Ministry of Lands and Housing, by the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA), PMC, Agency for Social Protection (ASP) and the Ministry for Local Government and Community Affairs to update the press on the progress of reconstruction and renovation of residential premises affected by the December 7 explosion.

Brenda Morin, chief executive of ASP, noted that 842 families have received the financial help of R25,000 bringing the total to R21,050,000, and the last batch of 39 families are receiving theirs by today.

“This will be the last payment of this type of aid and in order to be able to do that there was a good collaboration between the various agencies. At ASP there are other funds that are available to help those in dire need and we would advise them to contact us directly,” said Ms Morin.

Private houses/properties

With regard to renovation and/or reconstruction of private houses, the chief executive of SIA, Jitesh Shah, said out of 354 private houses/properties, 193 cases are already at SIA.

“Immediate emergency works have been completed on 47 cases by five contractors. The government is doing the necessary to renovate two units due to the complexity of the works,” shared Mr Shah.

So far, 20 houses require reconstruction, out of which eight are insured. SIA is currently engaging with all 20 owners, and helping with designs where required.

Mr Shah said there were 92 requests for replacement of sliding doors and windows and visits were conducted to all the properties, out of which 89 requests were approved for payment for a sum of R2.2 million.

The other three are insured so they must proceed through their insurer, he explained.

There were also 60 requests for renovation works and SIA has visited and assessed 35 cases already, while visits are ongoing for the remaining properties. Out of the 35 assessed projects, 20 have been approved for a sum of R4.1 m, while 15 were not approved as the quotations were considered too high.

Mr Shah pointed out that seven quotations out of the 20 that were approved had to be renegotiated with the contractors, based on SIA’s assessment.

After this process, the total amount was reduced by R1.05 million. Similar negotiations are ongoing with the other 15 that were not approved, said Mr Shah.

“The revised quotes were from the same contractors who did the original quotes, which shows that the quotes were indeed being inflated,” he added.

The major concern remains as to when will the 20 houses be ready. According to Mr Shah a lot of work has been done in the past two months and one week since the explosion.

“We are working with the owners of the houses and we have to carry out our checks and balances because the funds used are from donors. They want the money to be used responsibly and that means that the process can take some time.

“Right now, some owners are already in the process of finalising their architectural drawings. There are some insurance companies that will cover the whole of the construction, some partly and there are several procedures to be taken care of. We are trying our best to ease this procedure and we ask the people concerned to be patient,” said Mr Shah.

Another issue raised relates to the two contracts that the house owners have to sign.

“We had to put some conditions on the contract where once renovation is done, they cannot claim for more work. We are assessing all the work properly and funds to finance the works come from the Disaster Relief fund,” explained CEO Shah.

PMC managed estates

With regard to PMC properties, out of the 177 cases needing reparation work, 175 have been completed, except for a few which still require new windows.

The two remaining units require extensive renovation works, which are already underway and should be completed within the next two weeks.

Linda Bristol-Philoé, customer advocate officer at PMC, shared that they are still receiving some new cases, which they are assessing prior to undertaking any works. “So far, we have not completed the exercise to finalise the budget but it has already come to R2 million,” said Mrs Bristol-Philoé.

Romano Songor, director general within the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, shared that in total there were 268 victims who had to be put in shelters.

“At the moment, we do not have any of the displaced persons residing at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel. There are four families at Reef Apartment, one family at Ile Soleil and four families at the Petit Séminaire. They will be moved out as soon as their homes are almost ready,” said Mr Songor.

“We seize the opportunity to thank all the owners of the shelter. By the end of February, all families who are currently in various places are expected to move back to their homes.”

The six government representatives informed the media that each department was keeping records of all their respective expenses.

Keith Arnephy, chief operations officer at SIA, and Phillip Monthy, member of the National Assembly for Cascade, were also in attendance.