Incomplete road infrastructure has been stated as being the latest hurdle that has prevented the government from handing over the finished houses constructed under the National Housing Project.
Information Minister Melford Nicholas said, “The delay in handing over those keys have really been hampered by the completion of the road infrastructure in the Dredge Bay area.”
In May 2016, Housing Minister Eustace “Teco” Lake had said that 300 homes would have been ready by year-end, some of which Prime Minister Gaston Browne said later would have been made available for occupancy in December of that same year.
But now in January 2017, and three years after the Antigua & Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) made an initial promise to construct 500 homes in 500 days, that vision has not yet materialised.
Nicholas, who addressed the matter during the latest Cabinet press briefing on Thursday, said a new timeline would most likely have been set, since road works are slowly coming along.
He told OBSERVER media that because government was trying to “perfect” the immediate use of utility services in that particular area, the ground had to be dug up so that the conduits could be placed underground.
More in today’s Daily Observer.