Empowering communities vital
A youth empowerment centre is to be constructed at Silver Hill, Christ Church.
Word of this has come from Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, Stephen Lashley.
He made the disclosure while speaking in the House of Assembly on Friday during the debate on a resolution to approve the vesting of land at Deacons, St. Michael in the National Housing Corporation, to facilitate the transfer of housing units there to tenants who qualify under the Government 20 Year Programme.
Lashley told the Lower House during that debate that the proposed Centre will be housed on the site of the old supermarket building in the area, and is to be financed through the Maria Holder Memorial Trust.
He made the disclosure while referring to steps being taken to further develop the housing areas across the country. According to the Christ Church West Central Member of Parliament, in the Silver Hill Housing Area a new play park was recently put in and the hard court has been completely refurbished.
“This, Mr. Speaker, has helped to create a new sense of belonging in that area and indeed that is the model that I am sure will be pursued in the other housing areas.
“In the Gall Hall area there has been the development of a play park as well which is being heavily utilised; we just completed a small road tennis court for the residents… because we recognise that the empowerment of community must be felt in these areas, and that our mission is to ensure that we can enhance the aesthetics of these communities and working along with the residents to achieve it,” he added.
He also stated that residents living in housing units across the island are being encouraged to become part of residents’ associations in their respective areas.
He revealed that over the last two weeks he has been engaged with residents of Gall Hill to start that process of creating a residents association there.
Meanwhile, referring to the transfer of terrace units in his constituency, he indicated that at Silver Hill 240 units have been surveyed at a cost of approximately $143 000, and the certified drawings have also been passed on to the Ministry of Housing and Lands. He said the process of transferring those units to the tenants should soon be completed.
With respect to Gall Hill, Lashley indicated that of the 149 units, certified drawings have to be completed for 98 of them and the surveying process for all has been completed.
"I want to say to the members of the Barbados Labour Party that this Government will continue to do its work and this is a very vital aspect of the work – the completion of those conveyances for those housing units is a vital aspect of that work and much of the work has already been done,” he said.(JRT)