Housing Minister Pennelope Beckles distributes keys for Mailboxes to residents of Demerara Heights Housing Community

On Saturday 28 August, 2021 the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, the Honourable Pennelope Beckles, distributed keys for mailboxes to residents of Demerara Heights Housing Community at the Wallerfield Activity Centre.

The Settlements and Community Relations Department of the Housing Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago is spearheading this Mailbox System initiative, which was started in 2019, based on numerous requests from residents of several housing communities to provide this service, so that residents can experience a greater level of comfort, security and convenience in accessing their mail without having to visit a centralized mailing centre.

The HDC has thus far successfully installed these mailbox systems at nine (9) developments across the country, including this one,  at Lion’s Gate and Oasis Gardens in Chaguanas, Lakeview in Point Fortin, Real Spring in Valsayn, Rosewood, Cleaver Heights and Greenvale in Arima and Mahogany Court, in Mt. Hope.

There are ongoing plans to  install another thirteen (13) such systems by December, 2022 at Woodstar Villas (Bon Air South), Bon Air North (Arouca), Carina (Arima) and Oropune Gardens (Piarco), Fairfield (Princes Town), Nepuyo (Malabar), Edinburgh South (Chaguanas), Cypress and Corinth Hills (San Fernando), Hillcrest Gardens in Retrench, San Fernando, Hubertstown in Guapo, and Cashew Gardens, Chaguanas.

While, only fifteen (15) residents were presented with keys at this event, in keeping with health protocols for public events, officers of the HDC’s Settlements and Community Relations Department were on hand throughout the day to ensure that the other two hundred and forty-seven (247) residents received their keys as well. The cost of installing these mailbox clusters at the Demerara Heights Housing Community is valued at one hundred and sixty-eight thousand, seven hundred and thirty-four dollars and thirty cents ($168,734.30).

The Settlements and Community Relations Department is responsible for the beautification and enhancement of the HDC’s housing communities and are instrumental in ensuring that they are outfitted with welcome, directional, street and civic signages, speed bumps, park benches and now mailboxes for the comfort and convenience of residents.

The department also conducts occupancy verification, in conjunction with other departments, to ensure that only authorised persons are residing in the units, in addition to needs assessment audits to resolve some of the issues experienced by the residents, and in so doing plan for appropriate interventions.

In applauding the efforts of the HDC in heeding the requests of residents and enhancing its customer service delivery profile, the Housing Minister, the Honourable Pennelope Beckles said that, “sometimes the importance and benefits of these initiatives to our various stakeholders often go unnoticed or are overlooked because what we do everyday is a matter of course for us in alleviating some of the hardships experienced by our clients”.

Also, in attendance at this Mailbox Key Distribution exercise was the Honourable Foster Cummings, Member of Parliament for La Horquetta/Talparo and Minister of Youth Development and National Service, Ms. Nirmala Ramlogan, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, Ms. Kerry Ann Roberts Karsmally, Councillor of Wallerfield/La Horquetta and other officials of the Ministry and the HDC.