New housing construction on track

This week the official Monaco Government website [1] reported that Prince Albert II visited one of the new housing construction sites in the Condamine area of Monaco. The building is being carried out on reclaimed railway track and the most recent project is scheduled to provide 87 units for the local Monegasques. Due to the limited size of Monaco, land is at a premium, and so wherever buildings can be constructed, they are. Major construction work was carried out between 1993 and 1999 to move the railway underground, and when the new track opened [2] more land became available for local housing.

Those residents who have Monegasque nationality have priority when apartments become free in older buildings with cheaper rents, but some argue that the lower rental income isn't enough for the property owners to carry out essential repairs and renovations. There are 7600 Monegasques according to figures on the Mairie website [3] (local government), although the official census [4] of 2000 shows that only 6089 of these actually live in the Principality. Much of the building work on the old railway tracks, such as that visited by the Prince, is dedicated to new housing estates for the locals.