00:00Minister Philip Alexander told members of the media during a site visit today that units valued at a maximum market
00:08price of $600,000 were built under the previous administration at costs reaching up to $1.5 million per unit,
00:18leaving taxpayers to shoulder hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses per home.
00:25So when you go to build as a developer, and HCC is ultimately a developer, when you go to build
00:32as a developer, you build to the market. Because if you don't build to the market, you will end up
00:40going out of business.
00:41Alexander said the completed apartments at Ridgeview Heights could not command more than $600,000, even with the best finishes.
00:51He claims that under the former administration, the HTC entered into an agreement to construct the units at a cost
01:00of $1.2 million each.
01:03That is a hundred percent increase on the value of what could be sold here. She further went, they further
01:13went on to accept an $80 million cost overrun to deliver these, moving the units up to delivery, the average
01:27cost per habitable townhouse to almost $1.5 million.
01:35Alexander said the HDC is now exploring legal options to determine whether some of the money can be recovered.
01:44He also highlighted losses associated with partially completed units at the development. He said the HTC spent $165,992,000
01:58for partially completed units.
02:00He claimed an agreement was made between the contractor and the HTC to pay them up to that point and
02:09cancel the project.
02:10He blamed the previous administration for the project being stalled and said the current government had spent the past year
02:19attempting to salvage what it could.
02:22These houses are now built on the surface of the land. There's nothing locking them into the earth. They could
02:26blow away. We have no idea how many of them are like that. We don't know how many of these
02:31buildings.
02:32They are retrofitting right now. They are retrofitting infrastructure. This project was done and a lot of these buildings have
02:38no infrastructure. No plumbing, no electrical, no sewage, no drainage.
02:42He said the government has had to explain why the housing units have not yet been handed over to applicants.
02:50Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:53Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:53Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:55Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:56Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:56Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:56Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:56Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:56Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:56Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
02:56Sherlyn Ramsubagh, TV6 News.
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