Clean-up drive in St Michael South East with help of SSA, NHC

St Michael South East Member of Parliament Santia Bradshaw has started an initiative to address concerns about bulk waste buildup in her constituency.

In a bid to tackle those issues and at the same time spruce up the community for the Christmas season, she led a cleanup drive on Wednesday.

The focus was on the lower part of The Pine, encompassing Princess Royal Avenue, Blackman’s Field, and Lascelles Terrace where residents were encouraged to bring out bulk waste from their homes.

Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) and National Housing Corporation (NHC) teams were on the ground to help with the waste collection and disposal.

Bradshaw highlighted the importance of maintaining clean surroundings year-round.

She told Barbados TODAY that plans were underway to extend the cleanup initiative to other communities within the constituency, and there would be active communication with residents and hands-on involvement, with volunteers assisting the elderly in clearing waste from their homes.

Moreover, Bradshaw added that efforts were being made to bolster the cleanup workforce within her Ministry of Transport, Works, and Water Resources.

“A lot of the young people we have participating in this exercise out here often do so when we do these clean-ups and other activities. Some of them have been on the National Conservation Commission programme, and some have been on the ash programme and the NHC [National Housing Corporation] programme. They have gotten accustomed to these kinds of clean-ups, not just within the community, but across the country as well.

“We should shortly be bringing back on a couple of the workers to help across the communities to keep the areas clean. The Prime Minister would have announced that recently… and you will see some accelerated activity over the next few months [with] persons assisting within the communities to help the NHC, to help the MTW teams and certainly to help the SSA on the ground to clean up the communities,” the MP and Deputy Prime Minister added.

She said debushing was also being done in her constituency.

“I am also mindful that we have a lot of concerns concerning the issues of the excess bush across the community. A few weeks ago, we started the clean-up by the Wilkie Cumberbatch School, Ann Hill and Irvin Wilson Schools.

“We have been able to remove a significant amount of that bush because we have had several concerns related to persons getting sick as a result of dengue. Whether it was contracted there or not, the reality is that we need to ensure that the community is kept as clean as possible at all times,” the minister said.
(RG)