TACLOBAN CITY – The National Housing Authority (NHA) in the region reported that it has terminated contracts of 10 ‘Yolanda’ housing projects due to the failure of the developers to finish the projects on time resulting in several housing units to be dilapidated.
NHA Regional Manager Constancio Antiniero said that these terminated contracts are housing projects in the island towns of Daram and Zummaraga, and Marabut, all in Samar; Pastrana, Leyte; and in Tacloban City.
The rescinded contracts involved over 2,000 housing units, he said.
Antiniero said that of the terminated contracts in the city, for example, are in Greendale 2, Guadalupe Heights 1 and 2, and Ridge View Park 1 and 2.
All these areas are among the 15 resettlement sites for families whose houses were totally damaged when Super Typhoon Yolanda pummeled Tacloban and the rest of the region.
To complete the project, the NHA will be downloading the fund to the local government units which already expressed their willingness to finish the project, the NHA official said during the weekly media forum held at the Hotel de Fides, this city.
The lack of personnel working at the projects was one of the main reasons why the developers failed to complete the projects on time, Antiniero said.
Antiniero said these developers are supposed to finish the projects in one year.
The NHA official said that these unfinished housing projects with grass and garbage while others were completely abandoned.
Because of these conditions, local government units are not accepting these projects from the NHA, he said.
“There are projects which was not accepted by the city government. The issue of dilapidation is subject to rectification of our developer. Ang developer namin, once the project is not yet accepted and to be turned over to the local government, we keep on negotiating to rectify everything including the land development and housing construction for this project to be turn-over to the local government,” Antiniero said.
Of the 119 Yolanda housing projects that were funded by the national government for Eastern Visayas, a total of 78 of which are already completed and are awarded to beneficiaries.
Antiniero appealed to the beneficiaries to take good care of their units awarded to them as their subsidy to the effort of the government in providing them a better shelter to live in. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
