More housing for St James South

Middle income Barbadians in the St James South Constituency are soon to benefit from a number of projects set to start later this year.Member of Parliament for the constituency Donville Inniss, at a press briefing followed by a short tour yesterday morning, pointed out a number of key areas where development was set to take place, and also highlighted areas where drainage problems were being experienced.Inniss said for years the contituency had major challenges with housing, but thanks to Minister of Housing Michael Lashley, some housing solutions were now being offered.Infrastructural work has already started for the 11 plots of land at West View, which is directly next to the National Cultural Foundation.Between West Terrace Gardens and Durants Village, application has been made to have 73 lots, while between Oxnards and Haynesville application has been made for subdivision for 23 lots, which has been suggested for the “prospects of high rise and several rental units to be built there.”Inniss noted private developers were also set to build about 150 homes in the constituency.Unfortunately he said, crime had shown an increase in the Wanstead/West Terrace/ Husbands areas, but noted the Holetown and District A divisions had been doing a good job to keep it under control. In addition several unkempt lots had since been cleared and they were now in the process of installing 10 streets lights in the areas of Crystal Heights, Durants Village and Wanstead over the next few months.Personnel from the Draining Unit were also on hand, to hear of the drainage problems in the area.“I’m glad to see that the drainage unit is here because we have to look at a few areas where we will sink wells in the area,” Inniss said.He complimented the Drainage Unit for being on the right track, since there were quite a few water courses in the area, and recent rains had shown that the water courses were indeed being kept clear.‘”However we cannot be complacent and I want to encourage all Barbadians to refrain from dumping in these areas; it is certainly not acceptable and something I want to discourage,” he stated.He also paid a special thanks to the Ministry of Education for vesting the lands adjoining the West Terrace Primary School, which is now to be a playing field for the school.“For all the years the school has been in existence, they have never had their own playing field. They have always had to go in and out of the school for their recreational facilities, so we are very grateful.”Representatives from the National Petroleum Company also joined the tour since Inniss noted expansion work of the natural gas lines was necessary. Inniss said many constituents had expressed their wishes to have natural gas installed at their homes. (CT)