Pressure on HA to provide affordable housing
The Authority has been only focusing on subdividing land, but it has now been challenged to diversify and cater for the different growing needs.
Housing Minister Premila Kumar strongly believes the Authority needs to come up with solutions that fit the needs of the 21st century.
“After the Lagilagi housing, we realized that there is a lot of demand for flats in urban areas. People prefer to own a flat and that shows that while the public they have changed in terms of their needs and wants but Housing Authority is still stuck in that era that their only job is to subdivide the land and put the lots on sale.”
Kumar highlights that sourcing funds for development is a challenge for the Authority.
“They have been relying on government guarantees, they have been relying on RBF subsidy but they need to be more innovative, they need to be more creative, they need to be talking to the private sector, they need to be talking to the banks, they need to be talking to construction companies who can come on board, they need to operate from a different perspective.”
The Housing Authority is currently working on projects around the country through which over five-hundred lots will be made available.
