Hurricane relief cash being pumped into building new foundations

Rocky Meade, permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, yesterday said the balance of unspent donated funds for hurricane victims, flagged in an auditor general’s report in May, is now being used to build house foundations and provide utilities for modular housing units to be given to people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Melissa last October.

During a meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) at Gordon House yesterday, Meade said 1,200 modular units were already in the country, while the Government was seeking to acquire another 1,300.

He said the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development (MEGID) and the National Housing Trust had joined forces to construct the foundations.

Meade could not indicate how many of the modular units had already been handed over to hurricane victims.

He told the committee that some victims did not have the authority to build on the land they occupy, causing delays in preparing sites for the modular units.

However, the permanent secretary said that in instances where people are unable to verify that they own or can construct houses on the property they occupy, the Government was moving to provide land through the National Land Agency to satisfy the needs of hurricane victims.

Commander Alvin Gayle, director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), said MEGID, which is the lead ministry for the distribution of the modular units, had partnered with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to identify the most vulnerable people who would benefit from the housing solutions.

Gayle told committee members that ODPEM would not be placing modular units in areas vulnerable to natural disasters.

“The idea is not to rebuild in spaces that would have had a significant impact,” he said.

Meade said there was a policy intent to relocate not only housing solutions but townships, if necessary. He said the Government would identify locations where it could establish services, with the hope that businesses and other establishments would build around those areas.

“Government service centres will not be established in vulnerable spaces, and we hope that the townships will then grow around the new spaces,” Meade said.

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