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The Government’s housing revolution will soon touch families in Marigot as seven housing units are currently under construction.

The Government of Dominica promised to build five thousand climate resilient homes for vulnerable families around Dominica as part of its mandate to build the first climate resilient nation in the world. 

These seven housing units are being developed and constructed by PRE-CONCO Ltd., who has agreed to build one thousand homes for Dominica as part of Government’s housing revolution.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning, Hon. Gregory Riviere stated that over thirty residents of Marigot will be able to boast of a new home upon completion of these housing units.

“The Government is constructing seven housing units, consisting of three bedrooms, one living room, kitchen, bathroom, and toilet facilities in Marigot. We are hoping that about thirty people will benefit from those units. I think it’s a historic thing for Marigot. It is the very first time the Government has started, and of course will complete, the construction of homes for the people of Marigot. Those are going to be resilient homes. They are part of the Government’s housing revolution project where they will build I think a thousand homes under the PRE-CONCO arrangement and of course the Marigot people are very, very happy to be part of the process,” Hon. Riviere stated.

The Minister explained that the seven units will be built on two different sites, one of which is made up of individual lots which were already owned by the residents.

“On one site we are going to have four houses and on the other site, which is basically at the top of the first site, we are going to have three. The three houses are going to be built on individual lots, so there are people who had their lots and we decided that we are going to construct houses on those lots. Of course for the other four units, persons will go through the process, they will apply and the Social Development Planner will do an assessment based on the needs and the circumstance of the individual applying, and then people will be awarded keys. And like we have been doing across the country, these houses will be free of charge. No one will have to pay to get one of these houses,” the Minister noted.

 the residential units, like the other homes already built, are being constructed to withstand major hurricanes and seismic activity.

“These homes are resilient homes. These are not the kind of homes that will be destroyed by sea blast. These homes are very strong homes; the technology that it is involved can withstand the sea blast and of course they can withstand the hurricanes of categories four and five,” Hon. Riviere explained.

The Minister went on to state that this is the first time that a Government has built homes in the community of Marigot. He then thanked the Government for the major investment in the community, adding that he looks forward to the construction of even more housing units for vulnerable families in Marigot in the future.

 “Let me thank the Government of Dominica. Let me thank the company who was involved in construction. As you can see the construction is happening at a very rapid pace and very, very soon we will be back here to commission seven housing units as part of a historic event. We are very certain that very soon from now we will have the completion of those units so that people can come in and live happily. So I think the people of Marigot are very fortunate and that is the reason we have to continue to thank the Government of Dominica for making those homes available, and I hope in the near future we can have more units like these for the benefit of the Marigot people.

Senior Minister and Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, Honourable Reginald Austrie noted that while building resilient homes is more expensive, the Government has chosen to follow the resilient route as it has proven to be more sustainable for the country.

“Government has taken a decision that we will build resilient structures. It will cost you more money but we believe that our people deserve it and our country deserves it. We cannot afford to build the same thing every year, because we are threatened by hurricanes every year and we cannot afford to be doing the same over and over again. So we have to do it once and for all and we have to ensure that the house we build will be able to sustain a category 5 like Maria,” the Housing Minister stated.

So far, under Government’s partnership with PRE-CONOC homes have been built for vulnerable families in the Kalinago Territory; with eighteen families from Bataca receiving key to new homes as recently as June 2 2021; Cochrane, with ten families receiving keys on June 8 2021; St. Joseph and Portsmouth among others.