$50m fire cladding loan scheme unveiled

Body corporate chairman Neil Le Quesne says that his building will apply for $2.5 million loan to remove flammable cladding. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

When residents of one of the eight-storey apartment blocks on Northbourne Avenue learnt that they would have to pay $40,000 to get the flammable cladding removed from outside, some were beside themselves in despair.

"They broke into tears. They had no capacity to pay," according to Neil Le Quesne, one of the residents who chairs the building's executive committee.