While chairing a July 10 meeting on developing housing support policies for the poor in areas frequently hit by floods, Deputy PM Hai affirmed the consent of Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung and Government leaders on continuing the programme, which was widely known as the 167 Programme.
Saying that the poor and people living in flood-prone areas had faced difficulties, the Deputy PM said that long-time housing policies implemented by the Government on a national scale in past years had helped millions of poor people to have the capability to settle and strengthen their homes. They have also offered better solutions in prevention and adaptation to natural disasters, storms and floods to the Central region and Mekong Delta.
The implementation of the programme’s phase 2 has progressed immediately after phase 1 finished with more than 500,000 households supported in housing construction and renovation. However, according to recent statistics, more than 510,000 poor households are still in need of housing support.
It is estimated that the total estimated capital sourced from the State budget and preferential loans for phase 2 was at VND13 trillion (US$611 million), plus a projected VND6 trillion (US$282 million) mobilised from the community and household contribution. The difficulty in accessing financial resources has threatened the implementation of the 167 Programme in some periods.
However, at the meeting, representatives from related ministries, agencies and authorities expressed their determination to continue the meaningful programme to assist the lives of people nationwide.
In that spirit, Deputy PM Hai assigned the Ministry of Construction, in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, to develop two new related projects on housing support for the poor during the 2011-2015 period and housing construction for flood-prone areas in the central region, then submit the project plans to the PM for consideration.
Along with that, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and relevant agencies were asked to balance medium-term capital for the two projected schemes to be implemented in 3-5 years.
Financial support levels will be calculated according to specific situations at each site. As expected, depending on the condition of each household, the State budget will allocate VND5-7 million or VND10-14 million for each household, while offering preferential loans of VND15 million per household at a maximum.
Source : Nhan Dan Online