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Declaring
that he will advance and defend Government’s Housing Policy,
Minister of Housing, Dr. Keith Rowley at a recent key
distribution ceremony in Tunapuna, said that the new Peas
Tree community is a world class development. The Minister
said that it was because of Government’s policy that “we are
here delivering 100 fine units in a layout that is equal to
any layout you can find anywhere in the world. I invite and
challenge anybody to find private sector housing equal to or
better than Peas Tree – this is a world class development.”
Minister
Rowley was the feature speaker at a multiple key
distribution ceremony in which over 500 owners from six new
Housing Development Corporation (HDC) communities received
their keys. This was the second such multiple ceremony in
one month. On August 22nd, owners from Edinburgh
South and Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas received the keys to
their new homes.
The Peas
Tree ceremony catered for owners from Five Rivers, Bon Air,
Champ Fleurs, Malabar and Boys Lane, D’Abadie. The Peas
Tree homes, so named because the area was commonly called
“The Peas” by residents, are close to the El Dorado Junior
Secondary School, the popular Tunapuna Shopping District,
churches and recreation grounds.
Minister
Rowley acknowledged that in times previous, an NHA house was
known as a box, and that the neighbourhooods were not well
planned or managed, but with the change from NHA to the HDC,
operations have changed, and as is the case with Peas Tree,
associations with such names like Newel and Broadbridge,
result in quality, well planned communities.
“Look at
what you see” he said, “a yard to play, a fence to protect
you and proper rooms to sleep in. This will influence the
next generation to come and we want to influence them
because we want the next generation to be a nation of which
we can be proud, and we can’t do that with people living in
poor housing”. The Minister also noted
that the new high quality offering from the HDC “doesn’t come cheap – a
house is not a hops bread”. He said that the Peas Tree development was
constructed at a cost of approximately $2.5M, excluding the cost of land,
and houses offered at $300,000 and $310,000. He said homes were sold at
such affordable prices because this was part of the government’s way of
sharing oil dividends among citizens. Coupled with 2% mortgages, no
downpayment and other policies to ensure affordability, the Minister said
now any police constable, junior teacher or clerk can afford a house.
Managing Director of the Housing Development
Corporation, Mr. Noel Garcia spoke about the ongoing expansion of the
Housing Construction Programme, explaining to the audience that in addition
to the 26,000 homes in various stages of construction across the country,
another 8,000 are planned for the 2007/2008 programme. He encouraged
applicants to trust the process and eventually they would be allocated a
home.
Echoing Mr. Garcia, Minister Rowley noted that the
current housing programme, which will see 100,000 homes constructed over a
10-year period starting in 2002, “will have to go past the 10-year plan if
we are to meet the shortage”, since the number of applicants have more than
doubled in the last 4 years of the 5 years of the programme.
The ceremony, which was coincidentally held on World
Habitat Day 2007, focused on the theme for this year’s celebration, “A Safe
City is a Just City”. Master of Ceremonies, Leslie John noted that Peas
Tree was only one of hundreds of safe communities being developed by the
Housing Development Corporation. The 800 plus audience was also able to
visit the other safe communities distributed on the day, through a virtual
video tour on large screens. |
