Venezuela To Spend $4.7B For 150,000 Homes For The Poor
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CARACAS (AP)--Venezuela's government will spend $4.7 billion to build 150,000 new homes for the poor this year, the housing minister said Friday.
Luis Figueroa, quoted by the state-run news agency, said that 100,000 homes are now under construction.
The planned investment is close to 10% of the $48 billion that the government earned in oil-export revenues in 2005.
Finance Minister Nelson Merentes said $3.5 billion of the housing funds would come from the government's Fonden development fund, the state oil company's social budget and additional credits approved for the housing sector.
President Hugo Chavez, who is up for re-election in December, has said that solving the country's housing crisis is a key pillar of what he calls his socialist revolution.
He first announced plans in March to build 150,000 homes by the year's end.
Caracas is surrounded by cinderblock shantytowns built on steep, often unstable hillsides. Heavy rains and mudslides in the past year have swept away parts of some neighborhoods, leaving hundreds homeless.
Many without access to their own home live squeezed into shanties with relatives or friends.
Venezuela and Iran signed a $405 million agreement in March to jointly construct 10,000 homes. Chavez also has Uruguayan and Spanish housing contractors working in the effort.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 05, 2006 18:28 ET (22:28 GMT)
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