by Linda Straker
- Current house repair programme not sustainable
- Government’s plan to significantly reduce cost of housing with prefab homes
- Housing Authority of Grenada will be working with 6 contractors to build sample houses
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has announced that houses under Government’s Project 500 initiative will not be concrete or a mix of board and concrete, but will be factory-manufactured prefabricated or prefab houses.
Speaking at the St Patrick’s townhall meeting as part of activities to celebrate the second anniversary of his administration in office, he said that Government’s plan is to significantly reduce the cost of housing in Grenada. He said that currently a simple 2- or 3-bedroom home costs about EC$250,000 or EC$300,000.
The Prime Minister said that the Housing Authority of Grenada (HAG) will be working with 6 contractors to build sample houses, and then potential homeowners will be able to inspect the houses before making their final selection. “What we are hoping to do with these contractors is to use modern technology that can allow us to do prefab houses, that is houses that are actually built or manufactured as much as possible in factories and then you are installing the homes,” he said.
The meeting also heard presentations from other government ministers.
“We will be building the foundations but you are literally installing the homes, installing the plumbing, the electricity and the other amenities. What that should allow is for more rapid installation of the homes in a shorter space of time, where you can do a lot of houses quickly and hopefully cheaply,” the Prime Minister said without disclosing the cost of the prefab houses which will be built on government land and private land. “It will not only be a situation where the government building on government lands because the government does not actually have a lot of land but it will include government land, where you may have a large site where you can actually develop a village,” he said. “Or it could be a private person who has ten, eight, nine acres and what to make his land available as part of the project, or it could be an individual who has an individual lot and we will be able to work with them to get a house built on the lot,” he added.
Traditionally, Government assists homeowners to repair and build board houses but it’s Government’s intention to stop that programme. “The current house repair programme is not sustainable and in the long run, it is not truly improving the housing stock in a sustainable manner,” the Prime Minister told the meeting.
ALL you i see house coming, but you talking about hurricane! don’t over think thing, let the prefabs be implemented that is what the people like. Lack of sense.
That’s a very good initiative. This will allow most Grenadian to own their own home at an affordable price. I applauded the government and the housing authorities. We are moving up up up.
This is a great initiative to assist persons requiring low cost housing. I would say just ensure that the buildings are structurally sound given the hurricane’s we are exposed to yearly.
Is this government thinking straight Prefab houses in the Caribbean where were are susceptible for hurricanes??? So you mean to tell me they are not seeing what is happening to these prefab homes in Florida, Texas and Louisiana when a hurricane strikes….. manufactured home will not work for the Caribbean, these homes also need the owner to have active home owner insurance…
Am asking for me dickon would you live in a prefab insulated with asbestos am pretty sure the answer will be no so why install them for the less fortunate not good at all
He might as well say it: Sonrise will get all the contracts, smh