Government pressing on with plans to buy pre-fab wooden houses from Guyana

The government is making arrangements to purchase 50 prefabricated timber houses from Guyana, as it continues the rebuilding process in the aftermath of the April 2021 eruption of La Soufriere volcano.

Confirmation of this came from Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, as he spoke on NBC radio on Wednesday, November 30.

In October this year Minister of Housing, Orando Brewster and Minister of Transport and Works, Montgomery Daniel, along with two engineers visited Guyana on a fact finding mission related to the purchase of green heart houses from that South American country.

Gonsalves said that the one, two and three bedroom houses which will come from Guyana, will be easy to assemble.

At present, all the necessary financial arrangements for the purchase of these 50 wooden houses are being made and the prime minister assured that money will be allocated in the 2023 Budget Estimates for this purpose.

He said that the houses will be purchased from a private sector company in Guyana, and that the timber houses are competitively priced, very good, and long lasting.

Earlier this year, the government distributed 27 pre-fabricated houses to families at Orange Hill.

Gonsalves also spoke of a further 41 houses which are being built with the assistance of the Mustique Charitable Trust.

Apart from rebuilding, work is continuing to repair houses that were damaged during the volcanic eruptions.

In terms of those houses which were significantly damaged (level 3&4 Gonsalves said “some of the houses are so bad, that what you thought you could repair, you have to build afresh.”

Member of Parliament for Central Kingstown, St Clair Leacock had voiced his personal opposition to the provision of wooden houses for Vincentians.

However, on Wednesday, Gonsalves pointed out that these houses would last a lifetime.