Housing target reduced
The National Housing Authority (NHA) is planning to build 50,000 houses a year for low-income earners, instead of the far-fetched target of 140,000 per year as required by the previous administration.
"If the NHA is to construct 140,000 units a year, our workforce must triple. If we recruit more staff, who will pay them when this project ends?" NHA acting director Pornsak Boonyodom said yesterday. Under its ambitious plan, the previous administration required the project to complete low-priced housing units by 2009. "With our new plan, we are determined to continue building more housing units until all needs are met," Pornsak said, adding that the NHA now has the capacity to build only 50,000 housing units each year. He said he had already consulted with the Budget Bureau on this issue. According to deputy director Pittaya Charoenwan, the NHA has completed 51,653 housing units under the Ua Athorn "We Care" project. This was launched to provide housing for low-income earners. The construction of 270,756 other units is still ongoing. Pittaya yesterday said the construction project in Prachin Buri, which became the subject of a graft probe, was moving ahead. "There's no irregularity. It's just that the NHA bought land at Bt850,000 per rai, based on an estimate by an appraiser registered with the stock market. But the Land Department has used a different standard, which calculates the land at just Bt60,000 per rai," he said.
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