the housing project at Arsenal, he will, for the benefit of the House, obtain from the New Social Living Dev…
(No. B/24) Mr E. Juman (First Member for Port Louis Maritime & Port Louis East) asked the Minister of Housing and Lands whether, in regard to the housing project at Arsenal, he will, for the benefit of the House, obtain from the New Social Living Development Ltd., information as to – (a) the total cost of the project, indicating the amount of Value Added Tax exemption benefited on the purchase of construction materials; (b) the number of units constructed to date; 51 (c) the name of the architect therefor, and (d) if all necessary permits from local authorities were obtained prior to the construction of the housing units.
Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. Member for his question, and my answer is as follows. I am informed by the New Social Living Development Ltd (NSLD) that the project at Arsenal consists of the construction of a total of 574 housing units on two sites, that is, 284 units on one site opposite Arsenal Government School and 290 units on another site opposite La Pépinière d’Arsenal. With regard to part (a), I am informed by the NSLD that the total cost of the project is approximately Rs1.92 billion. According to information provided by the Ministry of Finance, the contractor has benefitted from exemption of VAT as other contractors have also done under this particular social housing project. In this particular case, it was Rs54 million for the project at Arsenal. As regards part (b), I am again informed by the NSLD that works on both sites are currently ongoing and the building works of the 574 housing units only are expected to be completed by September 2025. Madam Speaker, in regard to part (c), the architectural firm for the project at Arsenal is NK Architect Ltd. Insofar as part (d) is concerned, I am informed that the Building and Land Use Permit in respect of both sites was first obtained on 04 August 2023, and my understanding is that a BLUP is only issued by a local authority after all required clearances have been obtained. I would like to add, however, that there was an amendment in the application for an amended BLUP on both sites, and I am informed that they date to 11 October 2024.
Yes, alright. The hon. Second Member for Rodrigues, hon. François. We are glad that you made it!
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. RODRIGUES – OFF-LAGOON FISHING SCHEME – CANOTTE PURCHASE