By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
The new townhouses being built just below the Patsy Allers Recreation Ground are in the final stages of completion and should be ready for occupancy in a matter of weeks says Minister of Housing Hon. Cedric Liburd.
Liburd toured the construction site at Horsford Road on Thursday and said he was satisfied with the progress that had been done in the past few months. He inspected the interior and exterior of the newly erected homes and spoke with persons working to complete the plumbing, electrical work and carpentry.
“The majority of the homes in Central Basseterre at the Village area should be ready by the end of May. There are some that need a little more work and those will hopefully be finished by the end of June. I’ve been assured that the finishing touches are being done as we speak, in terms of construction, tiling, plumbing and electrical work. After that we will carry out the landscaping, fencing and do some additional painting,” Liburd told The Observer.
Liburd explained that the homes were built in town house style, with living, dining, washroom and kitchen areas on the bottom and two bedrooms and a single bath upstairs. Tenants would have to share a common yard area and parking facility.
The five housing blocks each contain five two-storey adjoining homes, making it a total of 25 living quarters at the Horsford Road area. Three of the housing blocks are fully constructed, tiled and painted while the two closest to the playing field are still being built.
The Housing Minister along with the Manager of National Housing Corporation (NHC) Wayland Vaughn toured the housing project at Taylor’s where the first two blocks of town houses were already under construction.
Vaughn gave some insight into the reasoning behind the townhouse projects and their general design.
“We have built these types of townhouses because in the Basseterre area, you don’t have as much land as areas outside of Basseterre. The homes are built with the same design, two bedrooms, single bath, with kitchen and living areas. Maybe as time goes one there will be demand for single or three bedroom units, but according to the applications that we received at NHC, most people asked for two bedrooms. The way the homes are built, they are more than adequate for a small family,” he said.
The NHC official told The Observer that because of how the units were designed, it would be virtually impossible to do any additions to the houses. Any kind of addition, he explained could disrupt the ventilation in the buildings.
He disclosed that those particular homes would be ready by the end of August or early September. Vaughn said that the homes were middle-income level and that persons could apply for housing at the NHC.
