SANTO DOMINGO.-The Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) announced yesterday that it will undertake and construct 800 housing units in different regions of the country, with a total investment exceeding 985 million pesos.
During the relaunch of the Vulnerable Housing Program yesterday, Wednesday, Deligne Ascención, head of the institution, reported that in the first stage 172 units will be completed, to complete 529 units in a second round, "and close with close to 800 units, and we relaunch another stage," he highlighted.
He highlighted that the program, run by the Directorate of Social and Community Programs and the Department of Research and Social Projects, was started in 2015, but was halted until 2021 for multiple reasons.
He said that initially each unit was only 120,000 pesos, but that, due to a series of factors, including the increase in construction materials, "the decision was made to make a permanent home whose cost, due to the change in design, change in scope and the impact of prices, will now have a cost of 1,140,000 pesos.".
The child Aitor Rodríguez was in charge of blessing the event. (External source).
“We respect the contractors who had previously been awarded the various construction lots for this type of housing intended for families in vulnerable situations,” he stated.
He noted that due to the pandemic situation in 2020 there was a considerable increase of up to 35% in the construction sector, and until 2022 this was tempered by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“Initially, the investment in each unit was only 120,000 pesos, which was only enough to carry out a repair in the homes designated for such purposes,” he recalled.
He said that because of this, the decision was made to adjust the budgets to the reality of the moment, and although the number of homes to be intervened was going to be sacrificed, because the cost was increasing and there was a fixed amount that could not be varied to decrease the number of homes to be intervened, but to make an intervention for life.
A faculty of the Mivhed
Ascención said that the creation of the Ministry of Housing, Habitat and Buildings (Mivhed) removed the MOPC's authority to develop housing. "We are building these because they were part of processes initiated before the creation of that ministry," he stated.
The Director of Social Programs, Yasmina Veras, said that the vulnerable housing program is intended to reduce poverty, and is geared towards dignifying families through the delivery of a new, quality home, "where it represents a means to generate processes of social and economic development.".
He stated that the number of homes to be completed in the 23 lots with re-evaluated execution is 272 units.
It was initially conceived as a housing repair project, with 5,000 units divided into 60 lots with an equal number of contracts, distributed across the 32 provinces, including Santo Domingo and the National District.
The contractors awarded since 2015 are: from Greater Santo Domingo lot 2 architect José Ignacio Acosta; from Santo Domingo East with lot 4 engineer Jean Luis Alburquerque, and the architect Cynthia Karina Fabián.
From the Cienfuegos sector, Santiago, with lot 20, engineer Manuel Núñez Yaport; neighborhoods of Baní, with lot 20, engineer César Alejandro Brioso, and from Barahona, lot 7, engineer José Luis Morbán Herrera.
