Low-income housing projects to go ahead early this year, Prawit says

“There is already the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security’s budget of around Bt1.4 billion, which will be used to fund the initial projects. But we are still deciding on which locations to develop them ,” he said yesterday.

“The project will definitely be launched within the next two or three months, or no later than May.” 

The Finance Ministry has discussed the measure with private operators since October regarding the building of houses costing no more than Bt600,000 for people with wages and/or other income totalling less than Bt15,000 per month.

The government will select land near communities and public transport routes for the housing projects, and these houses will have leases of 99 years.

Prawit said the possible locations for the initial project were near Klong Lat Phrao, in Din Daeng district, and by Klong Prem Pracha, which will be partly|developed by the National Housing Authority, while the involvement of the private |sector will be in accordance |with its their willingness and capability.

Representatives from the Thai Condominium Association, the Thai Real Estate Association and the Housing Business Association told the meeting their members were willing to be involved in the building of the houses. Some developers may even provide land for the projects. But so far no tangible progress has been made by either the public or the private side.

The Finance Ministry has been working on providing some tax incentives for private operators willing to join the project, while the scheme is expected to be oriented towards non-profit and corporate-social-responsibility programmes. No further details have been given regarding the incentives or the setting up of a social enterprise fund to help fund the project.

State-owned banks, namely Krungthai Bank, Government Savings Bank and the Govern-ment Housing Bank, will step in to help low-income earners obtain mortgages.