Housing project at Peter’s Hope to commence

A major housing project is expected to take place on the leeward side of the island.{{more}}

Speaking at a ceremony in Barrouallie on Monday, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves revealed that a housing project for middle income and lower middle income citizens will commence in the coming months, at Peter’s Hope.

“The National Insurance Services and GECCU, the General Employees Co-Operative Credit Union, have together, among them, 57 acres of land and they are going to do a housing and commercial development around there,” he said.

“They’re going to start before the end of this year to build the infrastructure for the first phase of the project and they have the resources”.

The Prime Minister added that when the work begins, people in the area would be able to get work. Furthermore, Gonsalves indicated that it is his hope to build hotels in the area, in preparation for the international airport.

“I need more hotel rooms for the international airport. In fact, I’m going to call a meeting…with hoteliers…and I’m prepared to borrow money to build small hotels,” Gonsalves said.

He explained that hotels can be available for lease to Vincentian hoteliers, much like some of the other hotels in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“We own Cobblestone Inn and it’s leased out…somebody running the bar and the restaurant downstairs and somebody running the hotel. They pay a rent, so if they don’t have the money to actually build the things, we can build them and lease them.

“Despite the economic situation, your government is working hard, working smart to put things in place to further develop this country,” Gonsalves said.(BK)