This afternoon is for me a proud moment.
Waiting for this occasion has been a severe test of my patience.
We are gathered here to celebrate the official House Opening of the Bell Aire Meadows residents.
Beneficiaries started moving in as early as March of this year.
This group represents the very first set of residents to benefit from the Relocation 2000 Project.
I placed the issue of informal housing settlements on the forefront of the National Agenda.
The National Housing Trust, in celebration of its 25th Birthday, undertook the Relocation 2000 Project.
Communities were chosen for relocation as a matter of national priority.
Relocation from Seville Property - an invaluable heritage site.
Encountered two obstacles -
- Persuading occupants to move
- Getting acceptance by neighbourhood.
Under the programme, beneficiaries are provided with starter units which allow them to expand as their economic means allow.
Our social intervention in housing - Relocation 2000 -goes beyond just building starter units and moving people into them.
In keeping with national goals, measures have been put in place to facilitate a sustainable approach to the development of the new communities.
The appointment of a Community Development Officer who has been in place from the start of the programme and who will remain in place to work with Bell Aire Meadows and the other Relocation 2000 communities.
The role of the Community Development Officer is to provide guidance and facilitate management training for the residents and community leaders.
We are not simply building houses but fostering the development of vibrant and wholesale communities.
The Community Development Officer working with the Relocation 2000 communities has been working through available social support services -
To establish community education programmes.
To enhance community relations through various conflict resolution training programmes for community members.
The Community Development Programme also includes efforts to establish and maintain organized and active community groups within each Relocation 2000 Development.
This is being done through seminars, workshops and training programmes for leaders within these communities as well as for the general membership in communities.
The Community Development Programme also seeks to establish linkages between the communities and Local Authorities or Agencies which can contribute to the development efforts in these communities.
Integrated community development entails economic development , education, health, skills training and positive social attitudes.
The education and resocialisation of beneficiaries and prospective beneficiaries regarding their civic and financial responsibilities as members of a community.
Sensitising residents to the NHT's mortgage qualification requirements and mobilizing them to regularize their contribution status to qualify for a loan.
Let me now turn my attention directly to the Bell Aire Development and the marvelous transformation which has taken place in the lives of the beneficiaries of the former Seville Settlement who have since been relocated to this lovely site at Bell Aire Meadows. I believe all the beneficiaries here this afternoon will agree with me that this a great milestone.
You have a house on a piece of land you can call your own.
For those of you currently on a Lease Agreement, you will soon be able to call your own. You now have legal tenure, or have the hope of gaining legal tenure in the very near future.
For the beneficiaries of Bell Aire Meadows, we were able to identify this very lovely location.
This development, sited on prime residential lands, comprises a total of two hundred and forty-five housing solutions. Of these, one hundred are semi-detached Studio Units, while thirty are one-bedroom detached units.
The beneficiaries who are here this afternoon are among the one hundred and thirty households who have already benefited from these housing solutions at Bell Aire Meadows.
The remaining one hundred and fifteen solutions are serviced lots which will be marketed to NHT contributors under the regular NHT Scheme Loan Programme.
Let me again remind the beneficiaries that you have been afforded a very special privilege. The units you now occupy have been very heavily subsidized.
I note that there are several of you who are currently on a Lease arrangement, while you continue to straighten out your accounts with the NHT in order to become bona fide mortgagors.
I urge you to step up your pace as much as possible so that you can become full-fledged mortgagors and gain maximum benefit from this once-in-a-life-time opportunity which these units, at these prices, afford you. Remember, the sooner you gain mortgagor status, the better for you and the more secure your tenancy on the land once you remain faithful to your mortgage obligations.
I am personally imploring all of you to ensure that you honour your obligations to the NHT and preserve this inheritance for yourself and for your children.
Your development is also equipped with proper water supply, paved roads and foot paths, parking facilities and electricity and street lights.
We have also made sure that your children have recreational facilities.
And so you have been provided with a basketball court, a netball court and a playfield.
On entering the development earlier, I found the landscaping at the entrance quite attractive.
You will also notice that in support of making your community sustainable, we have been careful to provide you with an area inside the scheme, specially set apart for commercial activities.
Also, in recognition of the fact that many of you made your living through fishing when you lived at the Seville Settlement, arrangements are being made with the St. Ann Parish Council to have the Roxbrough Beach developed into a fishing beach to accommodate you.
Economic growth and social upliftment
Proper use of our land space - protection of our environment.
Need for planned, orderly settlements.
This will allow us to develop areas for economic activities which generate jobs.
Cabinet Retreat - Examined priority investment projects - in fields of Manufacturing, Agriculture, Information and Communication Technology, Minerals, Chemicals, Energy, Tourism.
Approval of Tourism Master Plan
- major developments along Northern Corridor
- including Seville as a major Centre for cultural and heritage tourism.
Commend N.H.T.
Record number of houses started and completed.
Continuing increase in number of mortgages extended and steady improvement of terms.
Urban City Programme.
$200 million rural housing programme.
No political partisanship in choice of beneficiaries.
Commend all those who worked to bring this project to a successful conclusion.
As we officially celebrate what, as I said earlier, I prefer to call your official House Opening Party, I again encourage you to count your blessings.
Work together as a community
Honour your responsibilities as good citizens and NHT mortgagors.
You have been given an excellent start.
Build on it. It is my dream that in the very near future, Bell Aire Meadows will have developed so much that you will be right up there among the top entrants in the NHT's best schemes competition.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you.