Homes for the holidays

JUST OVER 100 Barbadians should be celebrating Christmas in the comfort of new homes.
That is because at least three National Housing Corporation (NHC) projects are just about completed and officials expect to hand over keys to the owners next month.
Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley said yesterday that “all things being equal” homes at Valerie, Brittons Hill, St Michael, River Crescent, St Philip, and Forde’s Road, Christ Church, are ready for occupation.
“I can tell you that some Barbadians will be happy this Christmas. They will have keys for their houses. I can say that we pledge that,” said Lashley, adding that more projects at other locations will also be handed over before Christmas.
At Valerie, Barbados’ first high rise apartment building, has 80 units, including eight for the disabled.
The building’s sewage treatment plant is currently being tested.
Seven of the 77 units at River Cresent are marked ready and so are 16 units at Forde’s Road where a new road should be ready in ten days.
Lashley said it was expected that the houses at Lancaster 1 and 2  would be handed over in January. Ninety-eight per cent of the houses are completed and the wells are being dug.
Lashley also disclosed that his ministry was “tidying up” finances to start construction of another seven-storey building to go up at Exmouth, St Michael. It will house 96 units.
Lashley said an agreement had been signed with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for $70 million to construct additional low income houses and that project would be launched “shortly”.
Developments for the future include a partnership with a provider, which will see the construction of a solar-powered home at River View, St Philip, where 17 houses are being built.
Minister Lashley said thousands of Barbadians were applying for houses and Government was satisfying that demand.
He said people who were on a waiting list for “some time” were being accommodated. (YB)