THE management of The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is looking to save $100 million each year through the revitalisation of its College Common Housing Project.

This is expected to be realised when 44 vacant units are refurbished to accommodate staff from the university on this 60-acre property, instead of paying a housing allowance for rental elsewhere.

The first phase of the project, to cost $78 million and for which two contracts were signed on Monday, will see the repair of 17 houses.

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal at The UWI, Mona campus, Professor Densil Williams explained to the Jamaica Observer, following the contract-signing ceremony, that eligible staff now receive a housing allowance as part of their contractual agreement, which represents 40 per cent of their basic salary.

He said that with The UWI pushing to provide housing, that normal payout would go back into the institution’s coffers.

“When they live in UWI housing, that 40 per cent is gone so we recoup the money. It is a real saving to our payroll of about $100 million when the 44 is completed. That’s literal cash we have to find each month because it’s a part of the salaries,” added Williams.

He noted, however, that staff actually prefer to forfeit this payment and live on campus, noting that the demand for this accommodation is very high.

“For those 17 [houses we are doing in the first phase] we have about 38 people who actually already want to acquire those properties — so we have a greater demand than supply for housing,” added Williams.

During the ceremony Williams said revitalisation of the College Common project is part of the “revenue revolution for the campus” which involves looking at areas where The UWI’s physical assets can be used to generate significant revenue for the campus.

“We have been talking about it for a while…so today I’m very pleased that we’re here as a manifestation that we are not only planning but we are actually executing at the same time to make sure that we deliver on [the] promise made.

“One of the strategic areas that we have agreed to as a campus, in terms of delivering new revenue streams for the campus, is the use of our physical assets, and our College Common… bears a significant portion of our physical asset and we have studied it — we have recognised that something really needs to be done in order to generate revenue using these assets,” said Williams.

“I look forward to the day in June when we will hand over the first phase of this project and we will commence, simultaneously, phase two of this project to bring to totality the overall revitalisation of the housing stock for College Common, bringing revenue back to our campus but also significantly bringing back the ‘familyness’ within our campus,” Williams added..

In the meantime, The UWI, Mona campus Acting Estate Manager Milton Dennis said that, for the first phase, the general work on the 17 houses will include roof/ceiling repairs, plumbing repairs, electrical repairs, plastering, bathroom repairs, re-tiling, upgrading of bathroom fixtures and fittings, repairs to kitchen cupboards, upgrading of counter tops, carpentry repairs, and general painting.

According to Dennis, the first phase, which begins this month, is expected to be completed by the end of June.

He said phase two of the project will involve an additional 20 plus houses.