On August 19, Social Affairs and Housing Minister Diana Pokie led the official cornerstone-laying ceremony for a new affordable housing development in Voorburg, Suriname, marking a key milestone in the national Affordable Housing Project (AHP) that aims to deliver 300 completed homes to low- and middle-income households before the end of the current year.
The initiative splits the 300 units evenly across two districts: 150 homes will be constructed in Voorburg, located in Commewijne, and an equal number will be built in Reeberg, Wanica. In her remarks at the ceremony, Minister Pokie emphasized that all units available through this phase of the project are already reserved for applicants who registered for the program prior to construction restart. No new applications are being accepted for this round of housing allocations, she confirmed. Selected beneficiaries are required to contribute a personal down payment of 135,000 Surinamese dollars to secure their home.
Two private construction firms have been contracted to deliver all 300 units, in a public-private partnership overseen by the AHP’s dedicated Project Implementation Unit. The initiative is carried out in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank, which provides funding and project governance support. All allocations will follow pre-established eligibility criteria set out in the project’s official framework, with no adjustments to selection rules for this phase.
Minister Pokie acknowledged that the AHP has faced prolonged challenges in past years, with a very low implementation rate and significant delays long before the current administration took office. Since the new government came to power, she said, targeted policy interventions and dedicated resources have been deployed to speed up construction progress. “When this administration took office, the project’s completion rate was extremely low. Through focused efforts, we have pushed the project forward at a much faster pace, so that these homes can be made available to selected families as quickly as possible,” Pokie stated.
The minister also openly acknowledged that this 300-unit phase will not come close to meeting the overall unmet demand for affordable housing across Suriname. To address the country’s growing housing deficit, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing is actively exploring additional pathways to expand national housing supply, including new partnerships between the public sector and private developers to launch additional affordable housing projects in coming years.
If current construction timelines hold, all 300 units in Voorburg and Reeberg will be completed and ready for occupancy by the end of the year, delivering much-needed housing solutions to hundreds of Surinamese families that have waited years for their new homes.