Tripoli 31 January 2013:
The government has signed agreements with some 600 contractors on resuming work on housing units and related construction . . .[restrict]works.
Speaking at the government press conference yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, the Minister of Housing and Utilities, Ali Hassan Al-Sharif, said that the go-aheads had been signed after the contracts had been re-evaluated by the Commission of Twenty which had investigated their propriety. Fifty percent of bills was being paid and administrative problems settled, he added.
As a result of 60,000 housing units would be completed in the near future. A further 6,500 prefabricated houses would be constructed in a number of towns across the country by the end of the year. Compensation was also continuing to be paid to individuals whose homes had been damaged or destroyed during the revolution, the minister added.
The ministry had carried out a detailed review of all housing projects in cooperation with local councils on the priorities, said Sharif, and had established priorities for implementing work. It had also looked at solutions to the various bottlenecks preventing the resumption of construction. He explained that many of the incomplete housing projects were awaiting completion of related works — roads, electricity and water supply and connection to the sewerage system. [/restrict]
