More than half of the funding for Government’s Affordable Housing Programme has been finalised through the Bermuda Commercial Bank.
Zane De Silva, Minister of Housing and Municipalities, told the House of Assembly today that the $64 million in financing is specifically for precast concrete construction projects in Sandys and St David’s, being supplied by Virginia company Coastal Precast Systems.
This loan facility was first announced at a press conference earlier this week.
Today, the Minister said that “within the broader $114.75 million programme previously detailed to the House, this closed facility represents a $64 million component. This capital is strictly ring-fenced to fund the immediate construction of 84 new residential units distributed across three of our designated development sites: Tommy Fox Road, Albert Row, and Victoria Place.”
Site construction is projected to begin in August.
The Minister said that precast concrete construction will be utilised in an effort to meet Govenrment’s 18-month completion schedule.
The Minister added that following a “rigorous technical and procurement evaluation”, Coastal Precast Systems (CPS) have been engaged to supply the “specialized structural components for these specific developments”.Housing Minister Zane De Silva says the remaining financing for the nearly 115-million-dollar affordable housing programme will hopefully be secured through Clarien Bank in the next 3 to 4 weeks.
All the loans will be guaranteed by the taxpayer.
Local firms will do the foundational construction work, but Minister De Silva says related jobs or material won’t necessarily be provided by his company, Island Construction.
Responding to questions from Gary Foster Skelton (BELOW), he said that he has felt no need to declare any conflict of interest so far.
Minister De Silva said there are currently 548 families on the Bermuda Housing Corporation waiting list.
The current phase is set to provide 84 homes within 18 months.
