Houses at Durand lack infrastructure

HOUSES built at the government housing project of Durand Farm, in Port Moresby, lack trunk infrastructures like roads and electricity and water connections.
It is costly to the State when the Durand Farm housing project is still without the services, said the National Research Institute.
Institute research fellow Logea Nao told a forum in Port Moresby last week that this was a result of lack of planning, implementation and monitoring by the National Housing Corporation (NHC).
“Before the construction of houses are done, services such as water, power, sewage has to be in first,” she said.
“NHC is supposed to oversee the introduction of trunk infrastructure. Whether they have done a good job or not, the picture speaks for itself.”
The project wants to provide affordable housing to public servants.
“We also found out that the house prices range from K350,000 to K450,000,” she said.
“We are of the view that most public servants or most members of the general public might not be able to buy houses at the Durand Farm.
“The potential strategy to move Durand Farm Housing project forward is to provide necessary trunk infrastructure soonest, review sales prices of the houses so that many public servants could afford them and carry out quality checks on all completed houses prior to sales.”
NRI recommended that the private sector drives the project while NHC plays the facilitating role.
Meanwhile, Housing and Urbanisation Minister John Kaupa said the Government has allocated K6 million for early infrastructure works to begin before the construction houses start in September.