Minister Espat on DFC Loan Motion “All of It Adds Up To Housing in Belize”
Julius Espat, the Minister of Housing, also rose to contribute to the debate on the D.F.C. loan motion. He responded to the criticisms made by the Leader of the Opposition, while seeking to differentiate between the housing program under his ministry and the mortgage financing program at D.F.C. He explained that the loan program at D.F.C. is catered to the middle class. Patrick Faber, the Area Representative for Collet, also contributed to this debate.
Julius Espat, Minister of Housing
“The project that we are working at the MIDH is a social program it is designed for people that do not have the opportunity of going to a lending institution to get a loan and build a house. But all of it adds up to housing in country and what we are trying to do as a government is try to look at all the categories of residents in this country and citizens of this country so that everybody can have an opportunity to build a house. It is regretful that the leader of the opposition only speaks from one side of the tongue. The reason that most of the members on the other side has not received any houses under the housing project is that the land that their government provided for their people are in areas that are flooded. We have been in communication with them from the beginning.”
Patrick Faber
Patrick Faber, Area Representative, Collet
“It is major concern when we hear as well that you are borrowing from the Social Security Board. This is the kind of thing that you should be borrowing for though and the one area of concern for me and I guess it is not major given that the ceiling of the potential interest rate is at four point five percent but that there is not a defined interest rate that may cause some problem for the DFC, but overall this is the kind of borrowing and we have to be very careful cause while we want the social security, or as the government we have to be concerned about getting good opportunities to the citizens of the country we must remember we have an obligation to the citizens of this country who pay social security to make that money work for them.”
