ALEXANDER: COMPENSATE AFFECTED HDC HOMEOWNERS

CCNTV6

Minister in the Ministry of Housing Philip Alexander believes compensation should be given to HDC homeowners who were given poorly constructed houses.  On Monday morning, he walked through the Gomez Trace HDC development, in St Mary’s Village Moruga, where MP Michelle Benjamin has been lodging structural complaints for many years.  The junior Minister says a file will be submitted to line Minister David Lee to consider how exactly, these complaints will be addressed by the government.  Reporter Cindy Raghubar-Teekersingh tells us more.

Transcript

00:00Getting an HDC house for most people would be a dream come true.

00:05And for some who receive them, they are grateful.

00:08But there are those who have received a home,

00:11and it's been a nightmare dealing with the many infrastructural issues they inherit,

00:16like here in Gomez Trace, St. Mary's Village, Moruga.

00:20We have structural issues, drainage issues, sewer problems, landslip, roadway.

00:26These homes, she says, were built by a Manning-led government

00:30and distributed under a Rowley-led administration.

00:34And many letters have been filed to address serious superstructure shortcomings,

00:39prompting Monday's walkthrough with Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Philip Alexander.

00:45I've seen madness.

00:46I cannot believe that people were left living in circumstances that put their families in harm's way.

00:53There's a lot of danger here.

00:55A proper earthquake could throw some of these structures down.

01:00In cases where more than 30% of the support columns have to be retrofitted and replaced,

01:09those buildings should have been torn down.

01:11He says a technical team with engineers will be sent to this location

01:16and a file submitted to the line minister in quick time

01:19for recommendations and an action plan on how to assist those most affected.

01:25Those who have bought houses, they have to be compensated for that.

01:31They have money outside.

01:33A lot of these people have also gone beyond the value of the house

01:36by spending their own money, just keeping these structures standing.

01:41So we have to look at all of that.

01:43Everybody needs to keep their bills and their invoices for work that was done.

01:46He says they are also going to find out why the majority of HTC sites they've visited

01:51have problems with their sewer management systems.

01:55We were at Lakeview in Point Fortin.

01:58The raw sewage coming from the homes bypassing the sewage plant

02:01and going straight into the dam that feeds in the water is a terrible situation.

02:06We have to have conversation with a lot of the suppliers.

02:10There are situations where there are contracts in place

02:13where the contractors are being paid monthly for the provision of a service

02:19that is not being provided.

02:20We need to get on top of all of that.

02:22Cindy Raguba, Tika Singh, TV6 News.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended