36 Families to Benefit From New PRB flats at Jittu Estate
Thirty-six families from Jittu Estate at Raiwasa, Suva, will soon have the opportunity to rent newly built flats by the Public Rental Board (PRB) come
July.
PRB general manager Timoci Naleba said they were hoping to acquire titles for two incomplete buildings at Lagilagi Housing in Jittu by the end of this month.
Once acquired, PRB will take three months to redevelop the buildings at the cost of $3 million.
The buildings were initially developed by the People’s Community Network.
“We’ve spoken with Government last November and now that we have the coalition Government come in, those things are now with the Minister for Lands because the titles went back to the lands ministry because the lease expired at that time,” Mr Naleba said.
“We are hoping that this will come through before the end of March. Once that comes through, within three months we should be able to complete it.
“The idea is to have those at the squatter settlement, Jittu to move over. So the first opportunity will be given to them. Once they’ve moved over, we should be able to redevelop that area for additional residential flats.”
The design concept of the redeveloped flats is being done in consultation with the Ministry of Local Government and the Department of Town and Country Planning before it goes to the board for approval.
Mr Naleba said it had to be in line with the type of building that suited the development plans for the city.
“The main aim is to reduce the number of squatters. So we formalise that and redevelop the squatter area according to what the plans are with Government and the ministry. We have about 29,000 people living in squatter settlements in the Suva-Nausori corridor which converts to 6000 households if we divide it by four, so we need 6000 homes.” Similar to the Raiwai flats, residents earning below $30,000 would be expected to pay $100 rent per week.
Application requirements:
Application form,
FNPF eligibility,
TIN numbers,
Statutory declaration that they do not own a property,
Salary slips,
Number of dependents,
Birth certificate, and
Marriage certificate (if married)
Rent to own concept
The PRB legal team is currently working to find out whether they can go ahead with the rent-to-own concept under the Housing Act and Public Enterprise Act. Mr Naleba is expecting an answer from the team by the end of next week.