THE FORTHCOMING INFRASTRUCTURAL transformation of St Lucy should bring about services that could take the ease off the demands now facing Warrens.
Chief Town & Country planner Mark Cummins told the DAILY NATION yesterday that the massive housing development project targeted for St Lucy would raise the profile of the north and would translate into housing solutions, employment and shopping for Barbadians, in particular those from western St Andrew and eastern St Peter.
“This is going to be the catalyst for the future development of the north. The people of Belleplaine, Walkers, Shorey Village and Lakes will not only come to this area for services, but many of those people may get employment opportunities in this area and similarly eastern St Peter (Whitehall, Mile-And-A-Quarter, Diamond Corner, Mount Brevitor, Boscobel).
“That is not exhaustive, as I think you will have people from all over Barbados coming to Pickering because I think it offers another option, not only housing and employment but shopping,” he said.
There will be major road improvement and access with a four-lane road on the stretch leading to Northern Lumber Company. And, according to Acting Senior Town Planner Rudy Headley, 350 000 gallons of water would be pumped per day and the development would also increase the energy demand by two per cent. However, the Barbados Light & Power expects to meet this from its expansion by way of the implementation of the (30 megawatts) generating station at Trents.
A few weeks ago 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.
Cummins said the project had national spin-offs.
“The spin-offs are huge. Barbados on the whole will benefit and it will certainly enhance the profile of St Lucy and the north of Barbados. Importantly, and this is something we will obviously have to monitor, it may also take some of the pressure off Warrens.
“The man who lives in St Lucy may decide that instead of stopping at Super Centre on my way home, I will stop at the supermarket a little closer to home,” he said.
The project, which will see the transformation of 220 acres of agricultural land, will have a major sewage treatment plant.
“The benefit of that sewage treatment plant is that it will treat water to a tertiary level which is a level you can drink but we don’t treat it in Barbados. St Lucy is one of the driest parishes in Barbados, and we have an opportunity to look at best practices where the water from the sewage treatment system can be used for irrigation purposes.”
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 and a bus terminal.
