The Tribune

A Bahamian company last Friday signed an agreement with its Chinese counterpart to pave the way for co-operation on modular housing construction.

Latrae Rahming, Bahamaren's managing director, and Michael B Wei, China Construction Modular Housing Company's international manager, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the co-operation framework.

Bahamaren, in a statement, suggested the MoU's signing - in the same week that Parliament passed the Affordable Homes Act - could help address the problem of providing adequate, secure, affordable housing in The Bahamas.

It added that its Chinese partnership could reduce the costs and delivery time associated with home construction, thus helping to improve Bahamians' access to quality, affordable housing and lowering inequality.

Bahamaren said the MOU will facilitate collaboration on best practices for the offsite construction of housing that is resistant to climate change, improves energy efficiencies via the installation of solar energy; and decreases greenhouse gas emissions.

Technology and knowledge transfer between Bahamaren and China Construction Modular Housing Company is another feature of the MoU. Bahamaren also plans to introduce fully solarised smart homes as part of its product offering.