Fijians living in rural and maritime areas can now build their two-bedroom dream home for less than $20,000.

Yesterday, the Minister for Housing and Community Development, Premila Kumar, launched a new two-bedroom house plan, with materials costing $18,700.

She said the house plan was mainly designed for Fijians living in rural and maritime areas and was developed to encourage them to build better and stronger houses.

She said most houses in these areas were not compatible with Cyclone certifications.

“This new plan is certified by the engineer for Category Four Cyclones and complies with the guidelines for improving building safety and resilience of new single storey houses and schools,” the minister said.

The house plan, with the approved material list, is available online and can be downloaded free from the Ministry of Housing and Community Development website; www.housing.gov.fj.

Ms Kumar said the Fiji National Provident Fund was also aware of the plan and those who wished to use the plan to build homes using their housing eligibility under FNPF could download the plan.

She said the rural housing assistance was also available.

View the live press conference here:

The ministry would soon publish a material list from three different suppliers as a packaged price. A concrete version of the same house was also available.

“We will soon be introducing a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom house plan for urban areas,” Ms Kumar said.

She said their aim was for low income earners to save money and not pay large sums of money for architectural and engineering drawings.

Edited by Selita Bolanavanua

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