Fijians living in rural and maritime areas can now build better and stronger homes after the Ministry of Housing launched its upgraded two bedroom house plan which is a Category 4 engineer certified plan.
The cost of building the house is around $21,000.
Minister for Housing, Premila Kumar says with frequent and increasing occurrence of natural disasters having made a great impact on the housing infrastructure, the introduction of this upgraded plan will provide a safer and cost-effective option to Fijians living in these areas.
Kumar says more people will be able to benefit and be able to build more resilient houses through this plan and they will be able to feel secure knowing that their houses will be strong enough to withstand extreme weather conditions.
The plan can be accessed and downloaded for free from the Ministry’s website which comes with a complete set of engineering drawings and list of materials.
Kumar says the Ministry has gone one step further this time in negotiating very competitive material pricing with suppliers which is accessible to anyone who wishes to build their home using this plan.
She says the new house plan is a refined version of the existing plan where the kitchen and sanitation facilities have been further upgraded into a “core house”.
Kumar says this core house has a block wall structure and includes a living area, kitchen and sanitation facilities.
The Minister adds in the event of an unforeseen emergency such as a cyclone, this can act as a “safe house”.
Kumar says the living room can easily be converted in to a smaller bedroom or as storage to store the valuable belongings in preparation for evacuation and can also act as transitional shelter for a household in the unfortunate event that the other parts of the house are damaged by a strong cyclone.
