The government’s promise to deliver 10 000 affordable homes in five years ignited debate in Parliament, with senior ministers questioning the project’s cost, design efficiency and the role of small contractors in achieving the target.
The issue came under scrutiny during the Estimates debate in the House of Assembly, where Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, the senior minister coordinating governance policy, questioned how the Ministry of Housing intends to execute what amounts to 2 000 homes per year.
“Your ambitious target of 10 000 houses in the next five years… that is 2 000 a year,” Abrahams noted, referring to figures previously outlined by Permanent Secretary Niki Smith. He pressed the ministry on how it plans to construct “genuinely low-income housing” without driving prices beyond the reach of those most in need.
Minister of Housing Chris Gibbs revealed that early phases of the programme exposed significant cost inefficiencies, particularly in foundation work.
“We can use a modular approach to these types of systems, and we can build faster, but one large component in this design and build methodology is the foundations,” Gibbs said. “In the beginning, we were pricing the foundations too expensive. In essence, overengineering the foundations, hence we were paying too much money and driving up the cost.”
He added that infrastructure development has also proven to be a costly component, and the ministry is now examining more efficient construction methodologies and material sourcing from international markets.
“I’ve had conversations with contractors, specifically in the St George Brighton project, where they did say that lessons learned would include, for instance, instead of using certain types of tiles, we would go more to the click system, and you can get those pretty inexpensive out of China,” Gibbs said.
The minister stressed that while cost reductions are necessary, quality would not be sacrificed.
“We have to be cognisant across the board of all the materials that we use that can also bring down the cost. We do not want to compromise the quality of the finished product, but I can guarantee you that we will be looking from infrastructure works to foundation to quality of materials.”
He also noted that the ministry’s experienced planning department will now take a more direct role in executing designs and managing comprehensive planning, as the National Housing Corporation will no longer be responsible for that level of construction oversight.
But Abrahams argued that lowering material costs alone may not be enough. He proposed introducing basic “shell” units priced between $60 000 and $100 000, allowing buyers to complete finishes according to their financial capacity.
“There’s nothing wrong with constructing a shell if the person needs a shell,” Abrahams said. “If I only have $60 000 to play with, I can’t expect to get a marble floor. I might be able to get a structure that allows me to move in, and I can add to it when I’m able to.
“We may need to relook the complete finishes which drive the cost up and then take it out of reach of the person that we are actually trying most to help and develop a system where we give you a basic and we give you options.”
Beyond affordability, Abrahams also raised concern about what he described as an over-reliance on large contractors, warning that the 10 000-home target may not be realistic without broader inclusion.
“If you’re looking to build 10 000 houses, and as I say I laud your admirable objective, I’m not saying give away contracts to everybody,” he said. “But I believe that we now need to relook at some of these small contractors.”
He argued that assigning single units to small builders is impractical.
“You can’t give a small contractor one house. If you’re giving him something, you probably need to give him four or five that he can mobilise the equipment to do four or five houses in a certain area, buy the materials in such quantities that it brings down the cost.”
Abrahams told the chamber he was not satisfied that sufficient work had been allocated to smaller firms, despite Government investment in developing capacity within the construction sector.
“If we don’t roll the dice on some of them, if you don’t take a chance on some of them, then you will never get the next big contractor coming out,” he said.
Responding, Gibbs indicated that larger developers would deliver significant portions of the housing target, while smaller contractors would be incorporated according to their capacity.
“We will take large chunks out of that target by partnering, say, with a developer that can deliver 500, another can deliver 300,” he said. “But when we get to 1 500, we can look for the smaller contractors to give them some work.”
He explained that smaller firms could be assigned between five and ten houses at a time.
“If they don’t have the pockets to be able to fund 100 houses, but they can do 10, then when they get the returns from that 10, they could do another 10,” Gibbs said.
Chief Estate Officer William Clarke revealed that approximately 300 contractors participated in the Hurricane Elsa housing programme and that the ministry has maintained a database tracking performance.
“We’ve been keeping a database on the ones who would have come through well, the ones who have had some type of structure to their companies and who produce,” Clarke said. “So we’ll be able to put that list together and see who are the contractors that we can continue with.”
He also suggested that smaller contractors could be utilised to refurbish older housing stock earmarked to be brought back into circulation.
“We can utilise the houses that are the older houses that we plan to bring back on stream, and I think that those contractors, while we may not utilise them in large projects, we can utilise them on the houses that we want to bring back into use.”
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