Kellman: St Lucy project will boost north

by MIKE KINGTHE massive housing development project targeted for St Lucy will revolutionise the parish and provide benefits  that will stretch down  to Speightstown.That’s the emphatic view of outspoken Member of Parliament (MP) for St Lucy,  Denis Kellman.Kellman said there would also be major employment for dozens  of Barbadians.“There are going to  be major spin-off benefits for St Lucy and also  for Speightstown.  The development in Speightstown will  depend on the development in St Lucy.“I can see the town centre coming from Road View in St Peter straight up to Nesfield and Crab Hill. Don’t be surprised  if you get a town within  a town,” he said.Last week, in a ministerial statement   in the House of Assembly, Prime Minister David Thompson announced that a group of local, Caribbean and United States entrepreneurs and other interests, operating under the name North Ridge Development Company Limited, were scheduled to commence the project on 200 000 square feet of land at Pickering this year. The major initiative will involve the construction of 1 161 residential units.“The project will impact on Speightstown in a positive way, and  the development that you could not get in Speightstown  you will now get coming out of Nesfield, Moon Town  and other areas.“I keep telling people that Bridgetown is now  in Warrens and soon it will be in Redmans Village. And if you look at this project in the same light, this is what you will get, an extension of Speightstown.”The project will include  a 200-unit hotel, a private day-care centre, a primary school to accommodate 350 pupils, recreational amenities, heritage parks, greens, lakes, tree-lined boulevards, an amphitheatre, bus terminal and a sewage treatment plant.“There is no doubt that the project will bring plenty of jobs and good jobs for the people of  St Lucy and Barbados. This is the biggest things to happen in Barbados  at this point of time.”Kellman says the development will impact on the economic fortune of Barbados in years  to come.“I have always made the point that Barbados cannot be developed until St Lucy is developed. It is this  type of development  that will make a change in the economic fortunes of Barbados.”According to Kellman, the MP since 1994, the project should see the expansion of community tourism in St Lucy. “If you go into Colleton Gardens now, you will see community tourism very much alive and working, and that is complemented by the project in  Moon Town.”   Among the other areas of the project that will be finalised over  a nine-year period are doctors’ offices, a health clinic, a pharmacy, professional offices, beauty and barber shops, supermarkets, convenience stores  and a cinema.Kellman says St Lucy folk were resilient and keen to make the most of any opportunity provided.