Forde: ‘Spread the help to rural residents too’

Longstanding St Thomas Member of Parliament Cynthia Forde made an impassioned plea for attention to be paid to residents of Allen View, St Thomas who have been barred from developing their properties given their proximity to the island’s leading attraction, Harrison’s Cave.

Forde, who was contributing to debate on the Rural and Urban Commission Bill in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, lamented that while a plan has been put in place to move 12 residents to the nearby Forty Acres Development, there were still others who needed assistance.

Moreover, Forde expressed disappointment that $5 million from a $60 million InterAmercian Development Bank (IDB) loan by the previous administration had not been used to facilitate the residents of the rural community.

Expressing displeasure at the pace and scope of assistance provided, Forde explained: “Unfortunately, it pains my heart more than anybody else’s at this time, because people seem to think that St Thomas needs to be left out of nearly everything. Fortunately, the project was designed, including Allen View, it was the only rural community. And Allen View became the environmental protection zone with Harrison’s Cave there, and you will recall where one lady lived in the village, and she was rearing pigs, and then the water that rushed down into Harrison’s Cave discoloured the stalagmites and the stalactites to a point.

“That lady was relocated to St Lucy. However, hundreds of people live in Allen View. It is not the forgotten cousin village, because the people in there are extremely cohesive in whatever they do . . . . That project came to fruition when the government changed in 2008.

“To this day, the $5 million that was to be allocated to Allen View to upgrade it with the sewering and all that, to stop whatever. . . effluent would have been penetrating the cave . . . . Unfortunately, no money was spent at Allen View, no sewering took place. To this day, the folk of Allen View cannot expand their houses. There are about 10 households with no water, no running water.”

While Forde, who is deputy speaker of the House of Assembly, was happy that the 12 households from Allen View that are to be relocated to Forty Acres will obtain the lots free of cost, she called for assistance to be given to the remaining residents, particularly those who cannot access water from the Barbados Water Authority due to restrictions on development in the district.

Forde called for equal assistance to residents of rural districts and not only urban areas.

“My people in Allen View are still suffering,” she said, adding that assistance to vulnerable people should not be coloured by politics. She also called for the sharing of state assistance to be allocated “equally”. (IMC1)