Undone work on Greens houses
Opposition leader Mia Mottley (right) and colleague William Duguid pointing to “cracks” in a low-income house at Greens. (Picture by Rawle Culbard)
Fri, August 20, 2010 - 12:00 AM
OPPOSITION Leader Mia Mottley says some of the building work for National Housing Corporation (NHC) units at Greens, St George, is unacceptable.
Yesterday, Mottley, accompanied by Deputy Opposition Leader Dale Marshall, Christ Church West Member of Parliament William Duguid, and former Cabinet ministers Noel Lynch and Trevor Prescod, toured the housing project and expressed concern over the construction work.
Mottley told the Weekend NATION, the houses for low-income earners had supposedly been completed for more than a year, remained vacant and work was not completed.
No access
She said that some of the houses had “rent-to-own” arrangements and some people might have started to pay but had not been able to get access to them.
“This is not a gift. People are paying money. There is no water meter, there is no driveway, there is no accommodation for the disabled . . . all of these things have been left undone but yet low-income workers who are purchasing these houses have now to move in and find the wherewithal to raise the money while they camp out in the houses,” she said.
Duguid lambasted the housing conditions, and was of the view the units were only 80 per cent complete.
“When I look around, in none of the units has water been connected. There are no kitchen or bedroom cupboards, no solar water heater, no driveway . . . . People have to park on the road, because they can’t park off the road because it is on a slope.
Can’t get in
“It means that when two cars park at the top, all of the rest at the bottom can’t get in, so I would be surprised to see that the town planners actually give a certificate of compliance for any of these houses without an appropriate driveway,” he said.
Mottley pointed to cracks in some of the houses and said much had to be done to make the units liveable.
“If and when the cracks open up again who is going to be responsible for fixing it? Are you going to ask the same families who are in here to fix it?”
The Opposition Leader said this was an example of how taxpayers money could be wasted.
“I didn’t know that we had a luxury of houses that we could have people not been able to move into houses that were on the verge of being finished and for the minister to say that conveyancing has to be done. . . . conveyancing doesn’t take a year.” (MK)
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Page 1 of 1 pages
Desperation. Stupse.
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Comment LinkWhat is the purpose of politicians doing house inspections? Government’s role should be to set out rigorous and detail rules and regulations to guide the whole construction process, and Mortgage lending process to include licensing home inspectors and including such a practice in the transfer of title and deeds of homes to a buyer.
In the absence of such a law, Mortgage financing companies should insist on home inspections by someone license and trained to do such as a condition for releasing the funds. To do otherwise is to purchase a pig in a bag.
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Comment LinkPolitical ploys at play again! I agree that if houses are going to be provided, the workmanship should be of a high standard. It makes little sense for money to have to be spent later in remedial work. Bajans desperately need houses, Miss Mottley it doesn’t matter who provides them. Now that you are so keen on pointing out all these flaws, where are the houses built by you administration? Why was so much wasted on engineering opinions when Mr Barack pointed out and recommended the remedy for the hole in the earth. Could not that same money have been paid to him, so that we would not be in this big hole now?I didn’t see or hear you then.
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Comment LinkSEEMS LIKE THESE PEOPLE WONT LET UP AT LEAST WE SEE THE HOUSES, BEWARE DLP MEMBERS THESE POEPLE ARE TRYING EVERY THING IN THE BOOK TO GET BACK POWER
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Comment LinkWait! I thought Mr Dodgekid was living happily ever after in Canada. Now that he’s in opposition he seems more energised (like the bunny) than ever.
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Comment LinkPage 1 of 1 pages