Agency builds more houses, spreads wings

State-run relocation projects boosted production of the National Housing Authority and helped strengthen its financing footing, according to an official.

NHA chalked up a 33-percent increase in its average annual housing production nationwide for the five-year period 2004-2008. From 28,991 units for the 1999-2003 period, its average production rose to 38,777 units, general manager Federico Laxa said yesterday as the agency marked its 34th founding anniversary.

“NHA today is much stronger in every aspect—financially, operationally and strategically,” Laxa said. “We have achieved presence in 1,400 municipalities and 75 provinces of the archipelago. We have almost doubled our annual average production and successfully completed the rail relocation.”

The production increase came largely from the biggest urban relocation undertaken by government, the rail relocation project covering 94,690 families who had to make way for the modernization of the national railway system. These families are now sheltered in 34 resettlement sites, Laxa said.

Laxa added that financial stability can be seen in asset growth which at the close of 2008 stood at P33 billion, a 63-percent increase compared to 2004, he added.

NHA, one of the agencies under the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chaired by Vice President Noli de Castro, was created on Oct. 15, 1975 by virtue of Presidential Decree 757. It has been in the forefront of socialized housing development through the implementation of various housing programs to include resettlement, slum upgrading, sites and services development, medium-rise and community-based housing schemes. –Manila Standard Today