66 climate-resilient houses at San Sauveur to be completed in October  

With the passage of Hurricane Maria over 90 percent of houses in the Commonwealth of Dominica were affected in one or another way, the government then boldly declared that it would build five thousand climate-resilient houses for the citizens of Dominica who suffered a natural catastrophe.

In less than 2 years the government succeeded to build 511 homes for the sufferers and 1068 houses are currently under construction, which will be handed over to the families in upcoming months.

Giving pace to the promise, the construction of houses across the island is in full swing to provide houses to citizens soon before the next year comes. There are two blocks under construction in San Sauveur situated on the east coast of the island, each block will provide 33 houses to inhabitants of Dominica, whereas a total of 66 houses will be built in both of the blocks.

While talking to WIC News, Construction Manager of NH International (Caribbean) Ltd at San Sauveur project, Mr Kulwant Singh said that in San Sauveur housing project there will be a total of 66 homes built and out of those 24 houses will be two-bedroom and other 42 houses will be one-bedroom occupancy.

Divulging details, he added that according to the directions of Government of Dominica, the NH international company will handover complete houses, which will include all the wooden work and kitchen equipment (excluding stove or oven). He also added that the company will provide a fully furnished home with windows, doors and a completely functional bathroom with five-star amenities.

“With open and fresh air, the owners of houses will get a perfect view of the mountains and Atlantic ocean from their balcony. The company is dedicated to build complete climate-resilient houses for the people to secure them from any unwanted natural calamity”, Singh added.

Notably, the housing facility at San Sauveur is scheduled to be complete in the middle of October month, later which the government will hand over the keys to beneficiaries.

However, Prime Minister of Commonwealth of Dominica, in his budget speech also said that they successfully negotiated a financial package with the World Bank, to the tune of $104.0 million and have no doubt that this substantial sum of $104.0 million will cater for a significant number of families requiring a home for themselves. This project is separate and distinct for other ongoing projects which are implemented by the Ministry of Housing.

It is also to be mentioned that in the budget of 2019-2020 of Dominica’s government the total amount of $77,418,240 is set for the Housing and Lands, which accounts as 16.06% of the total budget estimates.

A major boost to the economy was given by the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) under which the country collected from non-tax revenue of $438.7 million or 53.6 percent of the total income and around $417.5 million was from CBI only.

The major amount of money used to build free houses for the citizens of Dominica comes from the CBI programme. Prime Minister in his budget speech said that the decision of this government to use the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBIP) to help develop five-star branded hotels, is part of a wider effort to expand economic activity and creation of sustainable jobs and opportunities for people.