Thirteen hundred Barbadians displaced by natural disasters last year will not only have permanent homes to rest their heads by June but they will benefit from Government’s plan to pay their insurance for ten years.
This is the commitment from Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance Dwight Sutherland, who also declared intentions to deliver another 1,000 houses in the next 12-16 months.
On Friday, Sutherland toured numerous areas earmarked for new developments including 2nd Avenue Haggatt Hall and Lower Burney in St Michael and St Matthias Christ Church.
At Haggatt Hall, he shared plans to construct three quadruplex buildings and three duplex buildings with 18 two-bedroom units to be done by construction company Infra.
“We are optimistic that these 150 units given a start to completion time of 12-14 weeks, we expect that within the next three to four months we would see the 150 units built,” said Sutherland.
“These units will help address the challenges that we faced due to the freak storm and Hurricane Elsa. We have houses being built from St Lucy to Christ Church, St George, across the length and breadth of this country, to assist those persons who suffered the effects of Hurricane Elsa through roof damage or total demolition.
“We, as a government, pride ourselves in providing safe, resilient and affordable housing for those many persons. I know there have been questions in the media with respect to where we are with rebuilding the houses damaged by Hurricane Elsa and I will say today we’ve received 1300 applicants as a result of damage done to their houses and we have formed a team between Urban Development Commission, Rural Development Commission and the National Housing Corporation staff, we are looking at rebuilding 1300 houses,” the minister added.
He disclosed that 55 per cent of the houses are actively being rebuilt as part of the project to the tune of $70 million.
The UDC is responsible for building 332 of the houses, whilst the RDC and NHC will construct 401 and 547 respectively. The NHC has also pledged to provide 223 households with building materials to repair or rebuild their houses.
“National Housing Corporation intends to finish their project at the end of April this year.
UDC as well will go down to June because of some challenges with landlords and tenants and then there are some other externalities that would push the UDC in the urban corridor down to June. RDC, however, will be finished by May,” he explained.
The minister added that Government would pay the housing insurance for the homes over a ten-year period.
Turning his focus to an ambitious plan to construct 10,000 houses over five years, Sutherland cited the 40 acres of land at Lower Burney along with 50 acres at Searles, Christ Church, Ginger Works, St Joseph and a number of other areas for this purpose.
“This must be a joint effort with the private sector with investors coming in and getting the necessary approvals, working with the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Maintenance and the Town and Country Planning department and building out the housing stock,” said Sutherland.
“Even though the target of 10,000 houses for some, is a stretched target, it is achievable if we work as a government with the private sector. We believe we can achieve our tasks in this term,” he added. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
