HELSINKI – Ukraine could order the design of its first social housing project from Finland, Vice Premier and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov has said.
“I think that the first project should be ordered in Finland.
Specifically, the project should be ordered in order to involve
architects who will train our young people who are studying in
institutes or working in design studios,” he told reporters on Tuesday, Aug.28,
during a visit of the Ukrainian delegation to Finland to study
experience of construction of affordable housing in the country.
The first social housing projects could be launched in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk an Zaporizhia, he added.
He said that the scheme for buying social apartments should be simple and clear.
“You select an apartment, go to a bank, submit documents on income
and pay from 10% to 20% [of the apartment cost] and in the evening you
obtain the keys to the apartment. If it happens like this, it will be in
great demand,” he said.
The vice premier said that the cost of an apartment with decoration should be up to Hr 6,000 per square meter.
Kolesnikov said that the state should support private
investors-constructors in the purchase of equipment for the production
of high-quality modern ferroconcrete structures.
“The state could finance interest rates on credits, and the state
will pay for installing networks, while local councils allocate land
plots free of charge so each Ukrainian can afford an apartment, and then
there will be competition,” he said.
Commenting on the chances of foreign construction companies entering
the Ukrainian market, Kolesnikov said that it is likely that this will
affect the expensive elite housing sector.
“Finnish companies can come to us, and we’ll be glad, but I think
that there are enough consulting firms to teach our constructors how to
do this,” he said.
He said that first apartments under the Affordable Housing program in Ukraine could be ready in October-November 2013.
