The quality of houses built under the rural housing assistance scheme in the previous government was a huge problem.

Whilst funding was provided, there was not much emphasis on the engineering standards.

Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum revealed this in Parliament on Wednesday.

He said when the Ministry of Housing and Community Development was established in 2018, the review of the scheme was a key task undertaken by the ministry.

Under the Revised 2021-2022 Budget, the Rural Housing Assistance Programme has been allocated $600,000 to implement the revised policy.

In the past two years a total of 64 applicants have received assistance in constructing their homes with assistance from registered engineers.

Under the old programme, the assistance was only given to households within village boundaries in rural and maritime areas and excluded Fijians living within rural boundaries.

According to the 2017 Census, there were 10,274 freehold titles, 6633 state leases and 17,475 leases with the iTaukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) in rural areas in Fiji.

Now the assistance would be extended to all Fijians living in rural areas provided they were either part of the land owning unit if they were building their homes within the village boundaries or they hold freehold or lease titles.

The ministry is also negotiating the prices of the building materials with major hardware suppliers so that successful applicants can purchase materials at these agreed prices.

Successful applicants under the new policy would receive a grant assistance of up to $10,000 to purchase building materials ($8,500) and transportation (sea cartage of $1500 for applicants from maritime areas).

Feedback: fonua.talei@fijisun.com.fj