Govt to build houses

THE government plans to build more than 500 houses for public servants in Port Moresby this year, Housing Minister Paul Isikiel told parliament yesterday.
He said more than 500 blocks of land had been secured to build the houses at Moitaka on the outskirts of the city.
Isikiel said the houses would be built by the National Housing Corporation (NHC) through the government’s public-private partnership programme.
He said 25 houses had been built in Madang and another 40 houses would be built at the Port Moresby suburb of Gerehu.
Isikiel said there were discussions with the Department of Lands and Physical Planning to secure undeveloped land throughout the country to build more houses for public servants and other working class people.
“The government is committed through its commercial arm, National Housing Estate Ltd, to provide affordable housing to the people as it is difficult to regulate real estate in the country,” he said.
The minister also called on the government to allocate K87 million from the Department of Finance for public service housing.
Isikiel also announced the establishment of a taskforce to collect data and report on the condition of NHC houses and land.