CREBA appeals continuity of construction to fuel economy amidst COVID-19

April 18, 2020 | By: By: INQUIRER.net BrandRoom

The largest association of real estate, housing and infrastructure developers has appealed to government to allow the resumption of construction activities nationwide under a “productive work-site quarantine” mode to keep the economy in motion. This amidst the extension of the partial lockdown of the country until April 30 to mitigate and contain the spread of the dreaded coronavirus.

The Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA) together with its members from among the country’s top property builders wrote to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and other agencies involved in the national action plan under Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Law, citing that the effects of the current global economic slowdown, particularly to OFWs and the foreign market, is so enormous it would take years until housing and real estate can fully recover.

Meantime, thousands of skilled construction workers are either stranded on project sites away from their families or completely jobless, including repatriated OFWs.

CREBA national chairman Charlie A. V. Gorayeb emphasized that under “productive work-site quarantine,” re-activated project sites will strictly observe all relevant lockdown protocols on mobility and social distancing. Workers will stay at safe and clean on-site barracks with all necessary health measures duly monitored by competent health workers.