President Faure

Twenty-four families from the Beau Vallon and Bel Ombre districts have received the keys to their newly built homes during the official opening of the Pascal Village Housing Estate, yesterday.

The ceremony, attended by President Danny Faure as well as other high-level dignitaries, commenced with a brief address by the Minister for Habitat, Lands, Infrastructure and Land Transport Pamela Charlette who thanked all the residents residing or bordering the housing estate for their cooperation during the construction phase of the project and welcomed the families to their new homes.

“It is the government’s aim to continually improve the houses and we have made a big effort to accomplish this objective. For instance, the units are much larger and include built-in cabinets in the kitchen,” said Minister Charlette.

14 families receive keys to temporary houses

Fourteen families whose permanent houses are either in the process of being repaired or rebuilt after being destroyed by fire or other disasters, have received the keys to a temporary dwelling place in the newly opened Barbarons Transit Homes.

Other families will also join the group and will receive their keys in the coming days.

President Faure and Minister Charlette unveil the plaque to inaugurate the Barbarons Transit Homes

Situated just behind the Barbarons SPTC bus depot, the 42 houses – 16 of which are of three bedrooms, 18 two bedrooms and eight one bedroom – were officially opened on Saturday afternoon by President Danny Faure and the Minister responsible for land use and housing Pamela Charlette.

This was in the presence of the Minister for Family Affairs Mitcy Larue, key officials from related ministries and agencies, district leaders as well as the families among other guests.

The project, which has cost the government R21.2 million, was initiated by the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport to provide temporary shelter to families in desperate situations for reasons already mentioned as they try to piece their lives together and start afresh.

This is because over the years, in the event of fires and natural disasters, the ministry used any available housing options in its pool to assist families in need, and consequently in the process depriving housing applicants of an opportunity to be assisted with a permanent housing solution until the affected house is re-built. Recognising the need to provide a better framework to cater for those cases, the project was initiated and construction on the 42 housing units started at the beginning of last year.

As the transit homes, the first of its kind, aim to bring temporary housing solutions to families in need, it is therefore important that some of the houses remain empty at all times in case of any eventualities.

The families’ length of stay will not be more than one year and they will pay a monthly rent depending on the size of their house – R1,000 for a one bedroom, R1,500 for 2 bedrooms and R2,000 for 3 bedrooms.

Addressing everyone present to witness the event, Minister Charlette said before unveiling the plaque together with President Danny Faure to open the homes, that in the past when disasters struck our families often had to be housed in guest houses or privately rented houses.

She added that often this was for long periods because of unavailability of social houses and the government had to shoulder these exorbitant costs.

“In 2017, 25 cases of house fires and other disasters were reported, 21 in 2018 and up to now this year 8 cases have been recorded. Among the cases there were extended families which made it more difficult to rehouse them,” said Minister Charlette.

She further reminded relatives who have the means to also help out as it is not the responsibility of the government alone to step in in such cases.

But the minister stressed that it is the objective of the government to build similar transit homes in other regions of Mahé where land is available.

Minister Charlette thanked the SPTC for making available part of its property for the project.

Following the blessing of the facilities by the parish priest, President Faure, Minister Charlette and other guests toured the different houses, inspected the premises and talked to the new inhabitants. The houses all have built-in wooden wardrobes.

Evelina Antha, chief executive of the Property Management Company (PMC) which will be responsible for the maintenance and proper management of the homes and its premises, said in order to truly serve its intended purpose, at all times six houses will be left empty for any eventualities and like is the case on other housing estates, families have to abide by all regulations as per their contract agreement.

As these are temporary homes, there are some other conditions that the tenants have to follow and these include; not altering the structure of the house nor erect any building or structure whether temporary or permanent on the estate, not making any internal or external alteration to the house like putting in place tiles and burglars’ bars, the house should be used solely as residence for members of the family approved upon allocation and any damage to facilities in the house upon inspection before they leave will be their responsibility to pay.

The estate will have 24-hour security protection and movement of individuals not living there will be restricted to between 8am and 6pm.

For his part the chief executive of the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) Philip Morin said the corporation has availed of the opportunity to publicise the democratisation of the solar PV which is bringing solar energy option to those families who cannot afford to install solar systems on their rooftops.

“With the installations that we have made it will help the families to mitigate the impact of their electricity bills. We have installed a three kilowatt unit on the three-bedroom houses, two-bedroom ones will have a two-kilowatt unit while a one-bedroom will have a one-kilowatt unit,” said Mr Morin.

He added that the PUC will also be installing PVs and in those locations where it cannot do so like on low cost houses the corporation will install a one megawatt unit on Ile de Romainville where productions will be allocated to those houses that are eligible.

[Source: Seychelles Nation]

The Property Management Corporation has published its Annual Report and Audited Financial Statement for the year ending December 2018, in accordance with Section 36 of the PEMC Act 2013. The Financial Statement which is prepared in accordance to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) shows the financial position of the Corporation whereas the Annual Report highlights the activities, achievements and challenges of PMC.

CLICK HERE to download

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Property  Management  Corporation  would  like  to  invite  locally  registered  Waste contractors to express their interest for the work described below;

Scope of Work

Conduct pumping of sludge at Amitie (Ex Teachers) Housing Estate - Praslin

Information to be submitted.

• Evidence of past performance and experience in work of similar
• Number of Trucks owned /
• Truck’s capacity and
• Number of
• Availability to work in emergency

Submission of interest

Interested parties should submit their interest in a sealed envelope marked “INTERESTS – WASTE CONTRACTORS” addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Property Management Corporation, Ocean Gate House, and submitted in the Tenders Box, at our PMC Office, Pension Fund Complex, Grand Anse Praslin by Thursday 2nd May 2019, 3pm.

For any queries, please contact Ms. Nella Young Tel: 4672825

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CORPORATION RESERVES THE RIGHT NOT TO ACCEPT ANY EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

The Seventh Day Adventist church (SDA) of St Louis has adopted a small vacant area at the Olivier Housing Estate, Belonie which will be turned into a playground for the children living there.

The adoption of the area was to celebrate Global Youth Day, observed by SDA youths worldwide.

After a praise and worship session and the area had been adopted, some residents of the housing estate joined the youths from SDA and from the St Louis district to conduct general cleaning of the area designated for the playground and also around the housing estate.

The purpose of this adoption initiative is to continue serving the community, promoting a healthy lifestyle and building strong communities.

It also serves as a catalyst to motivate and encourage young people to cultivate a spirit of volunteerism, respect, hard work and service to their community.

Present for the adoption and voluntary work at the Olivier Housing Estate were the principal secretary for Youth and Sports, Fabien Palmyre, St Louis district administrator Rachel Joseph, the chief executive of the Property Management Company (PMC) Evelina Antha, the president Seychelles mission of Seventh Day Adventist (SDA), Pastor Enworth Baxen, youths and other members of SDA and also some residents.

According to Pastor Abel Ntep from SDA, SDA’s youth ministry will seek sponsorship for the playing equipment for the fenced playground and alongside the residents, will maintain the playground.

He hopes that the playground will be fully equipped and ready by the middle of the year. For the time being the children can make use of the vacant lot for recreational activities.

Pastor Ntep also confirmed that SDA will conduct voluntary work at the estate on a monthly basis in partnership with the residents and the St Louis district administration. This, he said, will get the community to take ownership of its own assets.

He noted that SDA will also organise activities for both children and parents so as to bring the residents closer together which will be for the benefit of the children growing up.

Micheal Morel, a resident who was giving a helping hand, said the adoption of the playground was a good initiative taken by the SDA youth ministry and now his six- year-old daughter can have a safe place to play with her friends.

He said if he is free from other duties he will give a helping hand to clean the estate whenever such activity arises.

Mrs Joseph said that the DA’s office appreciates the initiative taken by the SDA youth ministry to adopt the play area and cleaning exercise and urged the residents to use the facility wisely when operational and to give the youths a helping hand in maintaining the playground and cleaning exercises.

Ms Antha said PMC welcomes such initiative that promotes togetherness on housing estates while Pastor Baxen said the adoption and voluntary project, to celebrate GYD, is to show the residents that other people care for them.

PS Palmyre said the initiative taken by the SDA youth ministry in collaboration with the St Louis district demonstrates the spirit of volunteerism among the youths and he was very happy to see the participation of very young children also.

“Children learn by example and not necessarily by what you tell them,” Mr Palmyre said as he urged other residents who were still in their homes at the time to come out and share a little volunteerism as a sign of motivation to the children present.

GYB is a day of awareness and sensitisation for SDA youths all over the world. The day gives the youths a chance to reflect on their lives and on the reality of other young people thus taking decisive actions to give, share and to help others through acts of kindness. The GYD started in 2013 and since, thousands of Adventist youths worldwide have observed and participated actively in this annual youth initiative.

Source Seychelles Nation.