MINSK, 2 February (BelTA) – The volume of residential construction in Belarus is projected to increase from 4 million m2 in 2021 to 4.5 million m2 in 2025. This target is formalized in the state program on housing construction for 2021-2025, BelTA has learned.
The state program was approved by Resolution No.51 of the Council of Ministers of 28 January 2021, which was officially published on the national legal internet portal on 2 February. The program aims to increase the provision of affordable and comfortable housing to the population, to create a safe and environmentally safe living environment. The program provides for different forms of meeting the housing needs of citizens depending on their income, preferences and place of residence, both using state support for socially vulnerable categories of the population, and using new mechanisms to finance construction (buying housing, renting, developing a system of housing savings, improving the mortgage mechanisms).
The document provides for the gradual increase in housing construction in all the country's regions in 2021-2025. This pertains to subsidized housing, rental housing, including for the military, and all-electric homes. Over this period, about 725,000m2 of rental housing and about two million square meters of all-electric homes are to be commissioned. The construction of stand-alone houses is expected to generate a diverse consumer demand in terms of cost, operational and design solutions and the use of eco-friendly materials. There are plans to continue building complexes of detached houses. There will be an increased focus on energy-saving solutions and smart home technologies in high-rise buildings.
People eligible for housing construction subsidies will be offered standard homes built in line with cost-effective energy efficient projects. One of the important areas will be the construction of housing for families with many children, orphans, the disabled and other socially vulnerable categories of citizens registered as being in need of better housing. Alongside with the construction of new housing, families with many children will be able to improve their living conditions by purchasing and reconstructing housing with the use of state support as well as by making use of rental and social housing.
The state program will be financed through the funds envisaged for this purpose in the national and local budgets. The program will need over Br38.6 billion, including more than Br6.66 billion from the state budget, nearly Br2.4 billion from local budgets, over Br6.7 billion of loan resources and nearly Br23 billion from other sources. More than Br6.4 billion will be used for the implementation of the program in 2021, Br7.1 billion in 2022, Br7.7 billion in 2023, Br8.3 billion in 2024 and some Br9 billion in 2025.
The average cost of housing, built with state support, is set at Br1152 per square meter in 2021. The average cost of housing is expected to increase to Br1433.2 per square meter by 2025.
All apartment houses should have the necessary engineering and transport infrastructure. The share of land plots for construction of individual housing with standard infrastructure will be raised from 82% in 2021 to 90% by the end of the five-year period.
The Architecture and Construction Ministry shall be responsible for the program. The program shall be carried out with the support of the Energy Ministry, the Communications and Informatization Ministry, regional executive committees and the Minsk City Hall. These government agencies shall take measures to carry out the subprograms and monitor targeted and effective use of funds allocated for their implementation. They should also ensure achievement of overall targets of the program and its subprograms and oversee activities under the program.
The document enters into force on the day of its official publication.
