The Ministry of Housing and Water is working to complete the semi-gated scheme for professional groups in Eccles by August.
The scheme which is being developed within the wider Eccles Housing Scheme is a priority project in which 40, 1200 square foot houses will be built. Minister Irfaan Ali said the total cost of this package will be just below $15M. However, such a package in an area such as Eccles from a private developer will cost about $25M, according to a Government Information Agency (GINA) report.
Ali explained that the ministry had received a large number of applications from young professionals such as doctors, lawyers, engineers and bankers within the age group of 25-35 years and as such it designed an affordable package for this target market.
Regarding the Eccles scheme, he said the land which was used to develop the scheme was among the first to be developed. It saw the creation of 825 new house lots between the moderate and high income scale; an investment of almost $850M. While all of the lots have already been allocated, only 40 per cent of homes have so far been built.
Housing development on the East Bank started in late 2010 when government announced its intention to establish 30,000 new house lots. In 2011, government invested almost $2.3B on the East Bank and in 2012 an additional $3.5B was invested; all told an investment of $5.8B on the East Bank alone.
