Housing targets
You may recall that some time ago the Castro regime announced with great fanfare that 50,000 new houses or apartments would be built on the island during 2008.
Another great achievement for the “revolution” … except for the fact that the number of promised new houses compared rather unfavourably with the 52,600 new dwellings the regime claimed to have built in the previous year.
In other words, even though the number of ordinary Cuban families in urgent need of housing continues to increase rapidly, the Castro brothers are building fewer new houses.
Well, it now seems that even that much more modest target for 2008 may be in doubt.
According to figures provided by the head of the National Housing Institute, Victor Ramirez, a total of 22,558 new dwellings have been built in the first six months of the current year – or about 45 per cent of the target.
Mr Ramirez ominously hinted that the promise by the regime to build 50,000 new houses may have been, well, a tad ambitious due to a range of unspecified “transport problems”, assorted shortages, poor productivity, etc, etc ...
So, it’s back to square one. Again.
Another great achievement for the “revolution” … except for the fact that the number of promised new houses compared rather unfavourably with the 52,600 new dwellings the regime claimed to have built in the previous year.
In other words, even though the number of ordinary Cuban families in urgent need of housing continues to increase rapidly, the Castro brothers are building fewer new houses.
Well, it now seems that even that much more modest target for 2008 may be in doubt.
According to figures provided by the head of the National Housing Institute, Victor Ramirez, a total of 22,558 new dwellings have been built in the first six months of the current year – or about 45 per cent of the target.
Mr Ramirez ominously hinted that the promise by the regime to build 50,000 new houses may have been, well, a tad ambitious due to a range of unspecified “transport problems”, assorted shortages, poor productivity, etc, etc ...
So, it’s back to square one. Again.
posted by Luis M Garcia at 11:10 am
2 Comments:
Luis, are you aware if the figures that you have quoted include the PCV houses that are like the ones that Hugo Chavez Frias' government acquired in Venezuela?
Are the figures referring to truly new housing stock, or do they include renovated properties?
This is one of the very few areas of life in Cuba where I wish some modicum of success would take place, for its potentially beneficial results would improve the daily lives of our fellow Cubans, God knows they need some sort of hope, anything that would provide it is fine with me.
Angel,
I am not sure whether the figures include the Chavez-style houses. I assume so. Then again, as with all statistics coming out of Cuba, there is never any transparency.
Thank you for your visit - and your comments.
Saludos.
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