108 Lots To Be Ready By End Of 2022, Housing Authority Assures

A total of 108 lots are expected to be ready by the end of the year to help solve the growing demand of housing in Labasa.

Housing Authority of Fiji chief executive officer, Ritesh Singh, made the disclosure during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Covata Housing (stage 2) Residential Subdivision in Tuatua, Labasa.

Mr Singh said an expression of interest would be called three months prior to its completion.

Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, officiated the event.

He is also the Minister Responsible for Housing.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said housing remains a critical component of any economy and the availability of land and landlords are key to this growth.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum highlighted how a well-developed and productive housing infrastructure critically plays an essential role to ensure that people feel confident to invest and build their first home.

He said the Government’s first homeowner grant initiative of $30,000 and others, fit in well with the Government’s plan to ensure more people start owning their own home.

“Homeownership by individuals in the country can be improved significantly by these grants,” he mentioned.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum encouraged more itaukei landowners to make land available for development by Government and make an income from this allocation.

“We have an initiative where landowners willing to lease their land to the Government are assisted with the subdividing works which the Government caters for,” he added.

Housing Authority CEO on development

Mr Singh, said they expect the housing lots to be completed by the year-end.

There would be 106 residential housing lots allocated along with a civic and commercial space for the area.

Mr Singh said they would open an expression of interest three months prior to the completion date of the housing lots.

This would, however, be dependent on the progress of the development as scheduled and weather permitting.

“We are targeting the first homeowners that will be the first criteria that we are looking at,” he said.

Mr Singh outlined that after receiving the EOIs, they will then undergo their selection process and ensure the dream of owning a property for the first time was achieved.

The authority would assist people to fund their house blocks and depending on their borrowing ability of the customers, they would also assist in opening up loan accounts to fund their property construction.

“People can apply from other creditors or banks of their choice, but, as we know that the authority provides one of the most attractive packages to help customers to own their first home”.

The housing lot sizes vary from 300 square meters up to 600 square meters.

Mr Singh said they understood that every development they carried out had to provision a civic space where the community would have its own investment.

He said with the residential population to boom soon with the new development, a commercial space had to be allocated for either supermarkets or any other commercial business projects.

“As part of our social responsibility, we will have two open spaces where the community recreation parks will be developed by our authority and handed over to Labasa Town Council,” he reiterated.

The prices were yet to be confirmed, but, the housing block sizes would be considered in determining those prices.

“Our segment market is to have a balance between the income and quality of land provided”.

Further developments would include underground cabling for electricity, proper footpaths, a quality road network and proper drainage..

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