Cuba to Increase Subsidies for Home Construction
News from Cuba | Monday, 6 May 2013
From Prensa Latina
Cubans who want to build their own homes will benefit from the extension of State assistance, with new possibilities of payments through the subsidy.
From January 2012 to March 31, more than 566 million pesos were granted, for construction work carried out by personal initiative.
An agreement from the Council of Ministers and the resolutions of the National Housing Institute and the Ministry of Finance promote an increase in the amount of money that might be given to individuals as a subsidy, Granma newspaper reports.
Previously, the home-building requirement was 25 square meters and up to 80,000 pesos could be subsidized, strictly for building materials and labor. With the new provisions, costs for transporting materials would increase to 5,000 pesos, for a total figure of 85,000 pesos.
In case of a request for construction aimed at greater preservation where the amount of financing may be up to 10,000 pesos, an additional 1,000 pesos may be granted for materials transportation.
For smaller preservation works, with a maximum financial amount of 5,000 pesos, transportation expenditures will amount to 500 pesos.
If the subsidy is granted to build homes in areas with seismic activity, the total amount of the subsidy, including transportation, may be extended to 90,000 pesos. This is meant to support the purchase of materials required for earthquake-resistan t structures, Granma states.
In a second direction, new possibilities of payment using the subsidy money are being authorized, but without increasing the total amount. It will also be possible to incorporate the payment for paperwork and licenses corresponding to the project.
