Government is about to accelerate the relocation of squatters from Rock Hall, St Philip.
Minister of Housing Lands and Maintenance Dwight Sutherland told the House of Assembly yesterday that on Monday he would be visiting the area as the process to move some residents there to Parish Land in the same parish advanced.
Sutherland also warned people against building new homes in the area near the Grantley Adams International Airport once the 22 houses were moved as scheduled.
He was speaking during a resolution for the Barbados National Oil Company Limited to use 14 acres of land at Fairy Valley, Christ Church for a renewable energy project and storage.
“This Government came into office [and] brought [measures] to Cabinet [and] to Parliament, we will relocate the persons from Rock Hall and we are starting next week as I speak to you,” he said.
“On Monday I will be going to Rock Hall [as we relocate] houses [to] the Parish Land extension. We are relocating persons below the poverty line. But when we relocate them I am sending the message now…don’t go up there and mount no more houses,” he said.
“No more houses will build in Rock Hall, it is an environmental hazard up there and an accident waiting to happen.”
Sutherland said his ministry would also be helping residents relocate from White Hill, St Andrew.”
“I visited this week I am on the road every day looking at houses to make sure that my working class people’s challenges are addressed,” he said.
He also said residents of Allen View, St Thomas near Harrison’s Cave would also benefit from the construction of 40 single-detached units.
“All you need is infrastructure and we will make this a reality,” the minister stated.
The minister said Government was in a situation where it needed to get its overall housing revolution going to help resolve the ill health and social decay in Barbados, especially in urban Barbados.
“Once you have challenges with a housing stock and density issues you are going to have social decay, you are going to have a rise in certain crime and ill health, so we have to prioritise urban renewable and we have allocated some land for that,” he said. (SC)
