The Ministry of Housing, Lands and Maintenance has completed the assessment of houses damaged by the freak storm and Hurricane Elsa, and the emergency housing to be utilised is on its way from China.
Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid, disclosed this today, during the handing over of a donation of building materials from the Roman Catholic Church, at Building #7, Grantley Adams Industrial Park, Christ Church.
Giving the total number of houses to be repaired, he said: “So far, there are 541 houses to be rebuilt across Barbados based on all the assessments that we have done. There are 421 wooden houses to be repaired and 225 wall houses.”
Minister Duguid stated that the National Housing Corporation (NHC) had engaged the services of 39 contractors, who had completed 21 house repairs, thus far.
He said Urban Development Commission, which has 28 contractors, had repaired eight houses, and the Rural Development Commission, which has 28 contractors, was able to repair four houses.
He also spoke about the success that the NHC was having with helping home owners conduct their own repairs, noting that over 140 people had received materials from the agency, and had completed their repairs.
He urged other persons, in a similar capacity, to provide a list of materials, so that they could get going faster, because there were “a lot of houses to repair or rebuild”.
Dr. Duguid also announced that the emergency houses would be in Barbados by mid-November and that they were suitable for the island.
“The East West houses, those are the … 150 emergency houses ….Our National Housing Corporation engineer would have assessed, and has made it very, very clear that the houses are very capable, and very able to be here in Barbados. In fact, they’re already here, and I have Mr. Ian Foster, who is an engineer of many, many years… who is a member of the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers. He has made it clear that there’s no risk of corrosion or any kind of activity.”
The Minister made the stipulation that in order for persons to access these emergency homes, there must be clear proof of title and enough lot space to accommodate a 700 sq. ft. home.