Cheques amounting to Rs 9,972,650 remitted to 133 families

A cheque presentation ceremony was thus held, yesterday, at the Plaza Hall, in Rose Hill, in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Housing and Land Use Planning, Minister of Tourism, Mr Louis Steven Obeegadoo.

In his address, DPM Obeegadoo underlined that this financial assistance is a concrete show of Government’s support and expression of solidarity towards the most vulnerable members of the population.

He observed that everyone dreams to have his own residential property and that home ownership is an aspiration which is entrenched in the Mauritian culture. The construction of a house, however, demands huge investments, sacrifices and efforts, he indicated.  The DPM also deplored that, nevertheless, the most vulnerable ones face even more constraints in this endeavour.

Hence, he said, through this financial assistance, Government seeks to support low-income families to undertake the construction of their house, while emphasising that its priority remains helping the most vulnerable.

Among the beneficiaries, Mr Obeegadoo indicated, there are 73 families earning a monthly salary of less than Rs 10,000, 41 with earnings in a range of Rs 10,000 to
Rs 15, 000, and the remaining earning between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000.

DPM Obeegadoo further stated that the support scheme has been subject to changes over the years, since its introduction in 1997, to extend assistance to more families by widening the salary scale. He indicated that since 2015 up to now, some 7477 families have benefited from the scheme, for which a sum of Rs 496.7 million has been disbursed, and a total of 60,000 beneficiaries over the last 23 years necessitating a Governmental support of three billion rupees.

He also spoke about the current dysfunctional housing market situation whereby many are faced with difficulties to find affordable housing units to buy or rent.  The DPM recalled that 2020-2021 budgetary measures seek to boost the construction sector to remedy to that.

According to Mr Obeegadoo, now is the time for urgent action to tackle social housing issues, for which Government is taking a series of initiative and offering an array of facilities to help those in financial difficulties to secure decent housing.

Furthermore, he highlighted Government’s decision to leverage the construction industry as the engine of the country’s recovery from the post Covid-19 economic crisis, while recalling its unprecedented financial commitment to provide for the construction of 12,000 houses over a period of three years.

In addition, he pointed out that 850 housing units will be handed over to eligible beneficiaries this year, some other 1700 in 2021 and an additional 1400 in 2022.