Baan ua-athorn housing project on hold again as flood spending takes priority
The Social Development and Human Security Ministry has suspended its plan to expand the Baan Ua-Athorn housing project for the low-income market because of the government's need to spend Bt350 billion on a national flood-protection system, National Housi
The Pheu Thai Party-led government revived the plan to build 220,000 new housing units at the Baan Ua-Athorn project after the previous Democrat-led government suspended it. However, after last year’s flood disaster, the government had to re-prioritise its spending to set up a flood protection system, so the Baan Ua-Athorn project is on hold again.
Still, the NHA is continuing its plan to build new residential projects worth Bt20 billion to serve low-income people with prices lower than Bt3 million per unit.
There will be 89 projects providing 50,731 units nationwide. Some of these will be condominiums near Bangkok’s mass-transit system.
“We are now negotiating with the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand to set up a joint venture between the NHA and the MRTA to develop residential projects around the transit system. This would generate returns to [both parties] in the long term, while also supporting the de-mand for homes in the middle-to-|low-income market by offering prices lower than Bt2 million per unit,” Vitoon said.
The pilot project for this plan, which will be developed by the NHA, will be on Romklao Road, near the planned Pink Line of the MRT.
Vitoon said the NHA also had been studying development of an eco-village system for all of its new projects given strong growth in demand for green homes. The first green village will be in Pattaya after the NHA signed a memorandum of understanding with Horseshoe Point Co and Cellennium (Thailand) Co early this year.
The eco-village will comprise energy-saving homes with solar power and systems to recycle household waste as biogas. Prices will be lower than Bt2 million per unit.
According to its business plan, Vitoon said the NHA would generate net profit every year after restructuring its debt, which stood at Bt73.3 billion five years ago, to only Bt45.36 billion as of the end of this June; Bt30 billion of that came from Baan Ua-Athorn projects since 2009.
The NHA targets net profit of |Bt800 million this year after it netted Bt542 million in the first nine months of this fiscal year (October 2011-June 2012).
