Moonilal hands out HDC keys to 111

HOUSING and Urban Development Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal not only kept good his promise to deliver 100 houses per week for the rest of the year, but increased that number by a further eleven persons as he started the housing distribution programme at a key distribution ceremony at Cashew Gardens North, Carlsen Field yesterday.

And with the 2015 General Election in the air, Moonilal reminded the 111 recipients of a 2010 People’s Partnership election promise in which a pledge had been made to address the needs of those persons who had waited years to own their own homes.

“Your government has never lost sight of why homes really matter. For too long Trinidad and Tobago’s housing programme has been dysfunctional; and that is why as a coalition government we chose to implement a housing strategy which was broad in scope and long in vision,’ he said.

“In 2010, I publicly announced the Government’s intention to pay particular attention to citizens who have been waiting for years to own a home through the allocation system; even in the face of a database of an estimated 272,000 applications for housing before the Ministry of Housing,” Moonilal said.

“We are proud to state that since 2010 to date we have handed keys to 5,300 citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. To date, we have unlocked approximately 30 housing sites, an impact of approximately 7,377 homes, which have been stuck for years and we have delivered 6, 679 housing units; with 7, 548 affordable homes coming to market within the next one to two years,” he added.

He said there was “no single solution” to the nation’s housing needs nor would the government “overturn a generation of under-supply in one tenure’ as he stressed that the Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar led administration was “making good progress in the right direction.” He said there were also 4, 562 homes available for delivery in a number of areas including at Cypress Gardens, Union Hall; La Fortune, Point Fortin; Mora Heights, Rio Claro; Fairfield Estates, Princes Town; Cumana, Toco; Greenvale Park – La Horquetta Phases 1 & 2; Greenvale Park, La Horquetta; The Oasis Greens, Egypt Village; Couva Exchange; Gomez Trace; Chaconia Crescent, Diego Martin; Victoria Keyes, Diego Martin; Pier Road, Princes Town Beetham Gardens; and Hubertstown, Point Fortin.

Moonilal also noted that Government’s social infrastructure programme had evolved into a social development agenda and which included the construction of hospitals and police stations.

He said upcoming projects include the construction of police stations in Arouca, Carenage, Blanchisseuse and Santa Cruz as well as the construction of fire stations at Mon Repos, Four Roads, Siparia, Rio Claro, Princes Town and Friendship Estate, Tobago.

NEWSDAY