The first projects under the Territory Labor Governments $100 million Public Housing Stimulus Program have been awarded, with one job already completed.
The stimulus program, announced in November 2018, will see major and minor upgrades to urban public housing properties, delivering much-needed work to registered contractors across the Territory.
The stimulus is designed to roll out over the next 18 months, with an easy-to-register system for contractors, to ensure all small businesses have an opportunity to undertake the work and that the work can be allocated quickly.
$60 million of work has already been identified, and it is expected around $35 million of work will go to tender over the next six months. Works will include construction, plumbing, electrical, painting, roofing, fencing and security installations.
It will be a huge boost for jobs and small businesses as well as a valuable investment in public housing stock.
Last year, a previous stimulus worth $69 million generated work for more than 220 Territory contractors at around 3000 public housing properties and resulted in more than 250 vacant properties returned to public housing stock.
As stated by Chief Minister Michael Gunner:
Creating jobs is the Territory Labor Governments number one priority and we will continue to invest in programs that stimulate our economy.
This Stimulus is part of our plan to boost spending within the construction industry in order to support small businesses.
Generating work for tradies is just one of the ways we are working to build a robust and sustainable economy for all Territorians.
As stated by Master Builders NT Chief Executive Dave Malone
Spending $100 million on upgrades to public housing is a good investment by the taxpayer, no doubt welcomed by tenants and a very positive start to 2019 for hundreds of small firms planning on doing this work.
It is crucial that businesses in this market register for these opportunities.
Investing $100 million in upgrades will underpin as many as 550 full-time jobs but this program will support more than a thousand tradies in some way over the life of the program.
As stated by Trevor Miller from MWK Constructions:
MWK Constructions a small business with three employees installed a concrete driveway at a public housing home in Wanguri and is registered to receive even more work through the program.
This Stimulus is a win-win for everyone. Theres not a huge amount of work around at the moment so this will be a big help for small businesses like mine who will be able to keep employees in work.
We always use local subcontractors such as plumbers, electricians and cable technicians and we buy from local suppliers so the flow-on effect means everyone benefits.
People in the construction industry have been very positive about the Stimulus and see this as good support from the Government.
