TACLOBAN CITY- A committee of the House of Representatives will conduct its inquiry over the “slow pace” on the construction of houses intended for families who lost their houses due to super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ here in the city next week.
The committee on housing and urban development, chaired by Rep. Alfred Benitez, will conduct their probe on September 1 with officials of various government agencies involved in the Yolanda housing projects like the National Housing Authority(NHA) will be present.
Earlier, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone filed a resolution before the Lower House seeking for an investigation over the delayed construction of houses intended for survivors of Yolanda that pummeled the region in 2013.
It was learned that prior to the committee hearing, the committee members will conduct their site inspection in a resettlement site in Hernani, Eastern Samar on August 31.
Hernani was one of the towns in Eastern Samar that sustained severe damages due to Yolanda. During their visit, the congressmen will meet with local officials as well as families who were identified to occupy the housing units.
About P20 billion was earlier earmarked that was supposed to be used for the construction of resettlement sites in Eastern Visayas.
Close to four years after the world’s strongest typhoon to hit inland, the construction of these housing units has yet to be finished.
Among of reasons cited by the NHA for the slow pace of the projects were land acquisitions, bad weather, and issuances of needed clearances and documents.
The NHA is to build more than 14,400 housing units in Tacloban with only 8, 806 completed.
Also, about 6,089 of these units have been occupied.
Meantime, in Eastern Samar, housing demand is 7,573. About 454 units have been completed with only 199 occupied.
(JAZMIN BONIFACIO)
