The volume of housing commissioning in Belarus increased by 14.8% in January-August

September 16, Minsk /Natalia Verbitskaya – BELTA/. In January-August of the current year, 3.524 million sq.m of total housing area was commissioned in Belarus. This is 14.8% more than in the same period of 2008 and accounted for 58.7% of the annual target, BELTA was informed by the National Statistical Committee. For citizens registered as needing housing improvement, almost 2 million sq.m of housing was commissioned in January-August, of which 1.424 million sq.m was in apartment buildings in cities. The share of housing built for this category of citizens in apartment buildings in cities was 84.4% of the volume of housing commissioned in such buildings, with an annual target of 78%. In rural settlements, 1.04 million sq.m of housing was commissioned in January-August, or 29.5% of the total commissioning in the republic (in January-August 2008 – 31.8%). Investments totaling Br5.5 trillion were directed to the construction of residential buildings in Belarus in January-August, or 20.7% of their total volume. Br785 billion was invested in infrastructure facilities for residential development areas (66.7% of the planned volume for 2009). In the Brest region, 584.7 thousand sq.m were built in eight months of the current year (66.7% of the annual target), in the Vitebsk region – 354.1 thousand sq.m (60.1%), in the Gomel region – 461.4 thousand sq.m (60.2%), in the Grodno region – 457.3 thousand sq.m (65.1%), in the Minsk region – 746 thousand sq.m (68.6%), in the Mogilev region – 368 thousand sq.m (63.4%). In Minsk, 552.8 thousand sq.m of housing was built (39.5%). -0-