As part of the national agenda, quality affordable housing is high on the priority list with a number of measures put in place to make it more accessible for Fijians to buy or rent their own homes.

Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama while commissioning 36 new low-cost housing flats in Kalabu, Nasinu this week noted that more is being done to make homeowners yet, out of Fijians.

“We are also taking our work with commercial banks one step further by directly subsiding interest rates for Fijians families with an annual joint income of less than 50 thousand dollars who take out loans to buy or construct their first home or who purchase land as well bringing those rates down a full percentage point for a period of three years.”

Minister for Housing, Parveen Kumar says most recently 120 brand new low-cost housing flats have been commissioned and more affordable housing for low-income earners is expected.

“All those Housing Authority sub-divisions, now we have made sure that certain square metre of land is available for PRB so that we can have units like this. Before there was no such arrangement but now we have made a policy, that’s a policy within Housing Authority that they will have to make sure there is a provision for those type of areas so that we can have flats like this.”

Recently, the Public Rental Board opened 48 new flats of one and two bedroom units in Savusavu as well as 36 new one bedroom units in Simla, Lautoka.

Adding to the growing list is the 36 one bedroom units opened on Monday in Nasinu.