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First NEMA Starter Home expansion completed in Newton Ground
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Minister of Housing, Hon. Cedric Liburd (second from left); Mr. Woods, son of the owner (third from left) and Prime Minister and Parliamentary Representative, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas (fifth from left) along with officials from the Ministry of Housing and the National Housing Corporation outside the expanded NEMA Starter Home at Race Course, Newton Ground. (Photo by Erasmus Williams)
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BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JANUARY 22ND 2008 (CUOPM) – The governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Government continues to provide adequate housing for the people in the twin-island Federation.
Speaking at a brief ceremony to mark the completion of the expansion of the first home under the NEMA Housing Development Project, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas congratulated the Woods family on the improvement to their NEMA Starter Home at the Race Course Housing Development in Newton Ground.
Dr. Douglas, the Parliamentary Representative for the area, used the opportunity to express thanks and appreciation to the Venezuelan President, His Excellency Hugo Chavez, for the provision of EC$750,000 towards the NEMA Housing Development Programme.
The St. Kitts and Nevis leader noted the extensive destruction to homes, other buildings and roads by Hurricane Georges in 1998.
“Persons affected were those who had their own homes destroyed and those who lived in improper dwellings regarded as shacks and we felt that it was our duty as a government, even though persons were living in shacks and very poor conditions to replace what they lived in and give them a proper housing facility,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
~~Adz:Right~~ He said government, through the National Housing Corporation (NHC) designed the NEMA Starter Homes, which was basically one room with a bathroom and a small kitchenette. “It is within these walls that a number of persons lived after the hurricane.”
Prime Minister Douglas said his administration recognised that this was inadequate, since some of the families were bigger and a programme was designed to expand the NEMA Starter Homes.
“What we see today is the first of those models that will reflect the expansion of the original NEMA Starter Homes, which now comprises a full living room, a full dining room and a full kitchen,” noted Dr. Douglas, adding: “It is now a very modern, comfortable home for the householders.”
“This is part of the Labour Government’s policy of providing affordable homes for persons who cannot afford to build their own homes. It is part of the empowerment programme that my government has been pursuing for the last 13 years that it has been in office,” said Dr. Douglas.
He emphasised that the Housing Development Programme will continue not only in terms of the improvement and the expansion of the NEMA Starter Homes, but also in providing proper homes for the former sugar workers who do not have their own homes.
Prime Minister Douglas also gave the commitment that the National Housing Corporation will continue its own affordable housing development programme. He said that the middle income home programme as well as the Civil Service Home Mortgage Programme will also continue.
“What we are concentrating on here is what the government agency is able to do in order to assist persons in terms of getting their own affordable homes,” said Dr. Douglas, who wished the Woods family “comfortable living in their expanded home.”
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