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Innovative Taguig program to build 30,000 homes for the poor
The City government of Taguig, one of the country’s fastest growing urban centers, is taking a bold initiative in the mass-housing arena with an innovative program that aims to build 30,000 low-cost housing units in ten years that will benefit mostly residents of the city’s growing slums.
City Mayor Freddie R. Tiñga said the project, known as the Taguig Family Townhomes, is Taguig’s way of addressing the country’s squatting problem head on. He also cited the urgency of bridging the growing gap between the rich and the poor in his city, where the country’s most expensive residential developments at found.
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“Families in our cities are living in slums, along waterways, under bridges and along railroad tracks in appalling conditions. They clamor for land to live on and better living conditions, but the government is hard pressed to meet their demands in nay sufficient number,” the mayor said. |
Under the Taguig Family Townhomes program, the city government will put up affordable low-rise buildings in various locations, with each building composed of eight residential units measuring 25 sqm. each units.
The cost of each unit is P150,000.00 and the beneficiaries will pay P50,000.00 through an easy financing program with an initial down payment of P5,000.00 and the balance payable at P600.00–P900.00 monthly for a maximum period of 30 years.
Some of the units will be subsidized through fund-raising efforts by the local government and non-government organizations (NGOs) supporting the project. Donors who give a P50,000.00 or $1,000.00 contribution will personally get to know their beneficiaries, the mayor said.
| “We are looking at a one-to-one relationship between the donor and the beneficiary, so they know exactly who will benefit from their generosity,” Tiñga explained. “The contribution is not a dole-out, rather it is a down payment that you are making on somebody’s future.” |
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The project will formally launched on August 11, 2006 at the pilot project site located along Diego Silang Avenue, Barangay Ususan, Taguig City where the fist building is under construction. No less than the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Vice-President Noli de Castro, the government-housing czar will grace the occasion, Tiñga said.
The youthful mayor said those who are interested to participate in the project by way of contribution, financial or otherwise, are encouraged to coordinate with his office. The numbers to contact are 628-36-28, 628-36-27.
He also revealed that some of the country’s most popular architects and designers, as well as artists, contractors, furniture makers and suppliers have already donated their products and services for the construction of the model units that will be inaugurated next week.
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