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Low priced housing projects fail to impress the grassroots
Published on Monday, 14 January 2013 09:23
Soil tests are being carried out in Ayeyawun and Yadana Low-Cost housing project. (Photo-Phyo Wai/EMG)
Myanmar people see the two possible low-priced housing projects in Yangon for the grassroots people as ineffective.
The two projects will have a total of over 17,000 apartments, and each unit will be valued at 20 million kyats (US$0.02 million) which is an unaffordable for the majority of the people.
“The projects will have no land cost as they will be constructed on 200 acres of state-owned lands,” said Deputy Director Aye Aye Myint of the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development.
“The PAE value was between 1,000 kyats and 1,500 kyats per square feet at Yuzana Housing Project in Dagon Myothit Township, while the PAE value for the two new projects is about 20,000 per square feet. Moreover, the cost of other infrastructural facilities such as market, school, amusement park, bus terminals, water supply, electricity, road, meter unit boxes and lifts will be included in the value of apartments, estimated to be about 20 million kyats,” said the deputy director.
“People are expecting new apartments to cost not more than 1 million kyats (US$0.01 million) per unit. If the land plots could be bought at 5,000 per square feet, the price of apartment will be 10 million kyats(US$0.01 million),” said the owner of a construction company. He said the private sector could not sell the apartments at the government rate in the long-term.
The value of each apartment at the existing low-priced public housings under the management of Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development at the Dagon Myothhit Township in suburban Yangon are between 3 million kyats and 8 million kyats, while that of a private-owned low-priced housing project is about 1.2 million kyats, paid in instalments.
In earlier discussions on these projects held in Nay Pyi Taw, the term of repayment was fixed as 30 years, with the instalment calculated at 30 per cent of salary of those who earn 80,000 kyats per months.
“The term was reduced to 10-15 years and the price of each apartment will not be lower than 8 million kyats,” said Aung Kyaw Oo, Director of Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development.
Under the new instalment system, monthly payment will be about 0.1 million kyats.
“My salary is 0.2 millon kyats, which is the total living cost of my family. I have to pay 30 thousand kyats for apartment rent each month. So, I cannot afford to buy the apartment if we have to pay 0.1 million kyats as instalment,” said a resident living in Yuzana Housing Project.
The Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development will use 500 billion kyats from the state budget for the construction projects, and then transfer to the Yangon Region government to sell them to the public.