(Trinidad Guardian) Minister of Housing Edmund Dillon says construction will begin this year on 439 low and middle-income housing units in Port-of-Spain and San Fernando.
He made the promise following the signing of a US$72 million contract with the China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Company Limited (CGGC) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
“The contract being signed today is for initial construction of 204 two and three-bedroom apartment units at South Quay, Port-of-Spain and 235 at Lady Hailes Avenue in San Fernando, with the state providing the lands and the CGGC providing finance and technical capabilities,” Dillon said during the signing.
The homes are a part of the Housing Development Corporation’s (HDC) affordable homes project and Dillon said the signing paved the way for more than 5,000 low-cost homes to be built in the two cities by the end of the next year.
“After a year of negotiation, the Housing Development Corporation and the China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Company Limited, commonly referred to as CGGC, have arrived at the mutually agreed position for the design, build and financing of 5,000 new houses in Port-of-Spain South and San Fernando West and that’s just phase one. Government’s objective is to complete at least 6,000 housing units by fiscal 2020,” Dillon said.
The first phase of the project, which will span two years and local content, including materials and labour, are expected to be used, he said.
Friday’s signing ceremony was attended by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, the MP for San Fernando West and Public Administration Minister Marlene McDonald, the Port-of-Spain South MP, as well as Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dennis Moses and Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon.
