HOUSING Authority is encouraging members of the public to purchase land.
At the Hibiscus Festival, the authority is showcasing models of the different housing units that were being proposed for construction in the Waila city project.
"Considering that the housing expo brings together different stakeholders such as easy build kit home builders, house construction contractors and other partners, HA is looking at providing those interested in building a house with a home construction loan," Housing Authority spokesperson, Dwain Qalovaki said.
Over 1000 people have come through the Housing Authority booth to enquire about purchasing a residential lot in the central and western divisions and also to discuss finance options for purchasing either an existing house or to build.
"As part of our efforts to encourage those with land to build a house, HA is actively writing to our customers who have purchased a piece of land and have yet to build a house. We are also utilising events like the Hibiscus that draws a big crowd to speak with people individually to explain how our home construction loan can help them build their house," Mr Qalovaki said.
"Housing Authority launched a campaign in the last quarter to engage lot owners to build a house instead of leaving the land idle and renting.
This move is in line with encouraging the growth of our national construction sector that will also create employment opportunities for our citizens to be engaged in construction."
At the 2012 Budget announcement, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama made a budget announcement that would encourage house construction by introducing the VAT refund scheme.
The scheme would essentially encourage the growth of new house construction by allowing people to claim VAT refunds to the value of $120,000 for the construction of a house.