Low-income homeowners in Bridgetown will now have a new facility to tap from government for their home improvements.
Minister of Housing and Lands, Michael Lashley disclosed the new initiative at a Town Hall Meeting at the National Housing Corporation compound.
According to government officials, The Garden Land in Country Road in St. Michael has been earmarked for a multi-million dollar upgrade.
The new initiative is part of the $40 million programme funded by the Inter-American development Bank. The launch of the new project has sparked a number of queries into the Ministry of Housing about Government’s subsidy for housing programme for low income earners.
The programme will also bring upgrades to the surrounding infrastructure. Speaking during a town hall meeting for the initiative, Mr. Lashley explained that the initiative would include upgrades to the sewage system and pumping station and close to 200 housing connections, and road resurfacing. He added that Garden Land is the first in the pilot project in which $5 million will be spent it includes provisions for 600 subsidies over three years.
Lashley encouraged homeowners, “If you want upgrades to your property, the $10,000 subsidy will be there to assist you. The programme is specifically targeted at families earning a combined income of just over $2,600 monthly. The subsidy will be paid directly to the building material suppliers on behalf of the homeowners. There will be a selection of the building materials supplier before the end of May, 2010.Residence of the area were concerned about natural gas and lightning.
Aerial View of Four Seasons Site
It appears that the multi-million dollar Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Barbados could soon see construction get back on stream.
This comes to light as the House of Parliament seeks to put the issue on the table for Government approval of the Guarantee Scheme which was hypothesized in January this year for the stall project. The Four Season Resort and Residences came to screeching halt last year, and since then brought a major shadow to property development in Barbados.
Speaking to media on May 6th 2010, Executive Chairman of the Four Seasons Resort project Professor Avinash Persaud was hopeful that it will restart shortly if a government guarantee for the development receives final Cabinet approval.
Reports state that Professor Persaud says all of the financial agreements to restart the development are in place and the only aspect that is outstanding is the guarantee from the Barbados government which will ensure the release of more funds.
He added that he is cautiously optimistic that the Cabinet will rubber stamp the deal, meaning the project can restart within weeks.
In January 2010, several months after the project stopped a plan was put forward by Government to get the multi-million dollar property underway that would put Government as a shareholder in the property.
At that time local media reports stated that the new deal would involve a refinancing plan, which was reached with lenders, creditors, private residence owners, shareholders and developers. The agreement, was confirmed by Prime Minister David Thompson, who is also the Minister of Finance, involves Government supporting the refinancing efforts to complete the project.
The surrounding wetland of Barbados’ lead eco-tourism attraction is under threat.
This is according to a new environmental engineering study, this time the study has been conducted by Consultants of Tampa, Florida.
According to study which was only published in early May 2010, the Graeme Hall mangrove wetland is disappearing due to outside pollution and poor water quality.
The extensive 800-page study states that the Graeme Hall wetland is the last remaining mangrove in Barbados – a red mangrove forest that has existed for no less than 1,300 years. It is the only wetland in Barbados recognized internationally under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar). It acts as a Caribbean flyway stop for migratory birds between North and South America.
The study shows the Sanctuary has suffered a 77 per cent reduction in salinity in the past ten years due to an inoperative government-run sluice gate. The huge reduction signals “an inevitable failure of the mangrove ecosystem” as freshwater flora and fauna take over.
The study also cites damaging factors including: dumping of raw sewage into the wetland instead of the sea by the South Coast Sewage Treatment Plant; contaminated storm water runoff originating from 1,150 acres of government-managed drainage systems; and, commercial and residential pollutants from adjoining properties.
“The government owned and operated sluice gate failure confirms our worst fears,” said Stuart Heaslet, an official with Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary. “It means that as the mangrove forest dies, it will not grow back because freshwater plants are taking over.”
The original environmental investment was based on the area being protected as a brackish mangrove ecosystem.
“The study confirms that Government-controlled pollution is being dumped into the wetland. Despite our formal offers of technical and financial assistance to government, there has been no response. We can’t defend ourselves against pollution and environmental mismanagement outside our boundaries. Bird counts are down, crabs are disappearing, and we are seeing environmental degradation everywhere.”
Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary occupies 42 per cent of the Ramsar wetland at Graeme Hall, and is owned by Peter Allard, a Canadian investor and philanthropist who has put more than US $35 million into the 35-acre eco-tourism site to preserve the last significant mangrove woodland and wetland on the island.
“The investment in the Sanctuary was supposed to be part of a sustainable environmental initiative, dependent on government leadership,” said Allard. “As the largest private environmental stakeholder in Barbados, we continue to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to maintain the Sanctuary, but we all have to face the fact that it’s Government who is killing the wetland. The study shows that our environmental commitment and investment cannot withstand this assault.”
The Sanctuary in fact closed its doors to the general public in late 2008 when problems of pollution and water quality became overwhelming.
Aerial view of Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary
Despite a 6,000 signature petition by citizens of Barbados to create a 240-acre national park at Graeme Hall, a new government zoning policy calls for commercial and residential development for the majority of the area.
As the Canadian owner of the Sanctuary, Allard has filed several complaints alleging that the Government of Barbados has violated its international obligations by refusing to enforce its environmental laws, thereby allowing increased pollution and land development to damage the Sanctuary.
