Wednesday, December 6, 2006

by Malaika Laurent
Caribbean Net News Dominica Correspondent
Email: malaika@caribbeannetnews.com

ROSEAU, Dominica: The Roosevelt Skerrit Administration this week disbursed over four million dollars to the Government Loans Board to lend out, at 4% interest rates, to public officers earning less that $30,000 a year for home construction.

The four million is part of 22 million dollars made available through grant funding by Venezuela for the housing sector in Dominica, which is under reformation with funding up to 29.4 million, (22 million grant and 7 million low interest loans from Venezuela).

An additional three million dollars is being made available by China toward the housing sector.

Under the reform programme, five million dollars will be made available to private sector personnel within a similar spectrum through the AID Bank for mortgage purposes, while three million in equipment will be made available for home repairs island wide.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says his government has recognised how critical housing is in Dominica.

“Housing is critical. It speaks to the issue of pride, it speaks to the issue of ownership, it speaks to one’s ability to be able to shelter its family and the state has a fundamental social responsibility to assisting its people in accessing affordable housing,” Skerrit said.

Skerrit added that non-appointed public officers will be able to access these low-interest loans, to broaden the numbers of people who will be able to benefit from the programme.

Housing Minister Reginald Austrie says these programmes represent the government’s strategy to alleviate the housing challenges here.

“We will not be able to satisfy the needs of every Dominican with this contribution from the government of Venezuela. But housing for us is going to be an ongoing process and we expect that to continue even beyond 2010.

“There is an opportunity for every single Dominican to benefit, as long as you give us the opportunity and the time in which to do it,” Austrie said.

The Ministry of Housing has already started to improve the housing sector, with its Squatter Regularisation Programme where land was sold recently at EC$1.00 per square foot at selected squatter settlements.

Representatives from the three public sector unions (Dominica Public Service Union, Dominica Association of Teachers and the Police Welfare Association) believe that the housing programme will benefit their benefactors.

“While this is positive, I believe we still have a long way to go but at least, we can say that it is a positive step, it is a good move,” said Thomas Letang, General Secretary of the DPSU.

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