MINSK, 24 July (BelTA) – Plans have been made to increase the volume of housing construction in Belarus in 2021-2025, BelTA learned from Aleksandr Avramenko, Head of the Housing Policy Office of the Belarusian Architecture and Construction Ministry, on 24 July.
The official said that the total amount of housing in Belarus steadily grows. At least 4 million m2 of housing has been built every year for the last few years. More ambitious plans have been drafted for 2021-2025 because many Belarusians still do not have a home to call their own. “The problem has to be resolved. Construction companies have the ability to do that. Conditions have been enabled to provide financial support for it as well,” Aleksandr Avramenko said. Annual housing construction plans have yet to be adjusted but the national civil engineering industry is getting ready for the work already.
In the course of housing construction close attention is also paid to building homes where electricity will be used not only for cooking and lighting but for heating and hot water supply. The Architecture and Construction Ministry is working closely with the oblast administrations, the Minsk City Executive Committee, and the Energy Ministry to polish the schemes for connecting such homes to the power grid. “We should prepare the necessary infrastructure before making plans for building such homes. Cables should be laid, transformer substations need to be built, and the rest. It requires additional planning and certain investments,” Aleksandr Avramenko said.
Talking about plans for building apartment houses where electricity will be used for heating, cooking, and hot water supply in 2021, the official said there are plans to build roughly 270,000m2 of such housing.
The official also said that the average price per square meter of housing commissioned in January-June 2020 totaled Br1,123. The average price per square meter of housing built using state support amounted to Br1,019.
In turn, Inna Pinkovskaya, Head of the Housing Policy Regulation Department of the Housing Policy Office of the Belarusian Architecture and Construction Ministry, said that the state provides comprehensive support to citizens for the sake of financing housing construction. State support for housing construction is primarily granted to large families.
The official said: “We would like to reduce the time a large family waits for a new home to at most one year starting 2021. This deadline is generally observed in small district capitals. However, it is a problem in large district capitals, oblast capitals, and Minsk. But the pace of housing construction for this category of citizens has been increased.”
Inna Pinkovskaya reminded that as of 1 January large families can tap into family capital prematurely in order to improve their housing conditions. “It is a huge boon for such families. Besides, state support will be increased. The relevant legislation is being improved. Additional ways to support large families are under consideration,” she added.
