The Ministry of Housing plans to kick-start $20 million worth of new home construction early next year, Environment and Housing Minister Kenred Dorsett said yesterday. Dorsett said the ministry is negotiating with the National Insurance Board (NIB) for a revolving credit facility to service the construction. He referenced the weak financial state of the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation - due to a high loan default rate - and said any new government home construction projects must be done prudently. "Within the next 30 days we should complete the funding mechanism for the government's housing program," Dorsett said. "We are concluding our discussions with the National Insurance Board (NIB) in that regard.
Once that is done in the beginning of next year, in the first quarter of next year we will begin to aggressively pursue our housing program." He said the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has a mandate to build 1,300 homes before the end of its five-year term. "The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation, with the Department of Housing, has been assessing the demand for homes on all of our islands, not just New Providence, to assess how many people out there are able to qualify for homes," Dorsett said, speaking on the sidelines of a tour of Deep Water Cay Club bonefishing lodge.
"There is an interest to provide homes on the island of Grand Bahama but we also want to further analyze where people want to live." He said his ministry is also trying to decide if it will continue the practice of building large government subdivisions, at a significant capital cost, or move towards smaller subdivisions in areas where it is easier to install utilities and infrastructure. He added his ministry is currently wrapping up infrastructure development in subdivisions constructed by the former government. "That should be completed by the end of this year."
Dorsett further noted that his ministry plans to expand subdivisions in New Providence - in the areas of Adastra, Sunset Close, Pride Estates and Fire Trail Road. "In Grand Bahama we have several options available to us that we'll consider," he said. He said his ministry is committed to quality control in new home construction, as well as an improved home inspector unit, and will partner with the private sector to beef up quality control. "Over the last four-and-a-half years the former administration spent over $4 million in housing repairs," he said. "That's $4 million of the taxpayer's money going into the repair of homes. We have to minimize that and we can only do that through a quality assurance program."
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