Resettlement Programme Phase One underway
By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| PM Douglas and Ambassador Wu break the ground |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Twenty-five coastal families walked away contented with the fact that they will be soon resettled into the comfort of a new home following yesterday’s (Nov. 10) official ground-breaking ceremony at the Conn Phipps Housing Development Site signalling their relocation site.
The decision to assist the families with relocation was made as a result of the wide-spread damage of the coastal villages between New Guinea and Old Road Bay during the passage of Hurricane Omar which rendered some of the homes inhabitable.
Dr. Hermia Morton Anthony, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing, explained that a group of assessors from the Ministry of Housing undertook a detailed evaluation of the buildings affected by the passage of Hurricane Omar to estimate a market value for each building and cost of damage that occurred.
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PS Dr. Hermia Morton-Anthony
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“They wanted to identify how the buildings were affected and assigned a level of damage (ranging from I to IV), with I indicating minimum and IV meaning the structure was deemed uninhabitable. It was important for us to assign levels so that those persons who are in greatest distress would be dealt with very quickly.”
Dr. Morton-Anthony noted that the Ministry of Housing is already working to ensure that proper plans are drawn and the building of new homes for families whose homes have been assessed as Level IV will begin within approximately seven days.
Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, chronicled his observations after touring the south-western coast of the island and stated that he was terribly distraught with what he witnessed. He noted that he received a damage assessment and recommendations of the most appropriate approach to resettle the affected families.
~~Adz:Left~~ “Firstly, those who immediately needed to be placed in their homes because their homes were [extensively] damaged and secondly, a Phase Two which would be a major development plan that would remove all of those householders from the coastal areas so that in the future, we would not have the difficulties that we are experiencing today as we experienced [with Lenny] back in 1999.
“I want to commend the work of the Task Force who maintained a very strong point that we want people back into their homes not necessarily in the same condition but in a better condition than what they were in before the resettlement.”
The Prime Minister thanked the displaced families for their patience and understanding and urged them to be more patient as the resettlement programme takes flight. He also thanked the “good Samaritans” for providing necessary support as the government attempts to return the homeowners’ position to a state of normalcy.
PM Douglas along with Ambassador Wu churned the soil at the end of the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony and projected that the new homes should be finished by Christmas this year.
