Clean up or pay up!

Residents who refuse to keep their premises clean will be fined starting April next year.

Word of this has come from Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who said her administration would be enforcing the law.

Mottley said Attorney General Dale Marshall has already done the initial work in relation to necessary changes to the legislation, which she said Cabinet would review and approve “shortly”.

“In addition to that, you can’t just legislate without letting people know there is a new marshal in town. You’ve got to properly publicly educate people about what you expect of them,” said Mottley.

As such, she said there would be 3.5 months of sensitization and letters of warning as the legislation was being put in place, before Government introduce “a series of civil penalties so that people will be ticketed” for not cleaning their properties.

Mottley could not immediately say what the penalty would be, but indicated that it would cost “just a little bit more than it would cost for you to pay a man to come and clean by you”.

“We want Barbadians to understand that the Government have given you a ‘bly’ for the next three and a half months. You have now enough time to take up responsibility,” Mottley warned.

She said the penalty was necessary because this country will end up in economic problems again if there is a public health crisis in the middle of a tourism season or if we have a “public health crisis” among the population that affects productivity.

She also noted that environmental health and environmental protection agencies would be “going after” those with derelict vehicles. Initially, derelict buildings on Highway One and Highway Seven and the “town centres” will be targeted.

“When we finish there, we start coming into the other subsidiary highways and the other subsidiary roads,” said Mottley, as she spoke to journalists on Monday after a tour of the Pot House district in St John where the road is badly eroded.

She said email addresses would be set up so residents could provide information to the environmental and health agencies about overgrown lots.

Mottley also pointed out that the 13 depots of the Ministry of Transport and Works had until January 10 next year to provide an inventory of all the culverts and drains in Barbados.

Stating that the country would be embarking on a beautification programme, Mottley said as part of the national drive, the Barbados Water Authority would be putting all their pipes underground. (MM)