From right: Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, Denis Kellman; his wife, Paulavette; and Chairman of the RDC, Morgan Greaves, during the service at the St. Lucy Parish Church.
A Government Minister, who has long been a proponent of community tourism, is taking steps within his ministry to push the idea even more.
Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, Denis Kellman, has revealed plans to utilise the roads programme of the Rural Development Commission (RDC) to develop a number of coastline communities, to assist in the creation of community tourism initiatives.
Kellman made reference to the efforts while addressing the congregation at the St. Lucy Parish Church yesterday morning, where members of the Board of Management of RDC, staff and well-wishers joined the congregation there to celebrate the Commission’s 20th Anniversary under the theme ‘RDC: Building on 20 years of Service and Development in Rural Barbados 1996-2016’.
“Our plan is to develop these inlets where beaches are located in villages, so that these outlets become stops on the itinerary of the tour operators, thereby creating self-employment opportunities for the residents of the villages and other key players. As you know here in St. Lucy, we should be able to appreciate this point because we have about 35 bays at Coves,” he said.
Kellman went on to say that the Commission is presently looking to develop such a facility at Stroud Bay, St. Lucy. The Minister revealed that the plans for that area are at an advanced stage, while further indicating that they are in discussion with a commercial entity to partner with them on that venture. Additionally, he said they are also looking at the development of a cave at the St. Mark’s Church in St. John.
The Minister’s comments came as he expressed a willingness to partner with interested persons and entities to ensure that community tourism is contributing as it should to the Barbados economy. Kellman made the point as he spoke to the excellent work that RDC has been doing across rural Barbados. The Minister is adamant that the Commission has certainly lived up to one of its key mandates, of improving the lives of residents of rural Barbados. Stating that Government is mindful of the need to develop the rural corridor, he has pledged their continued unswerving support in pursuit of that objective.
He made the remarks just moments after Director of RDC, Randolph Outram, disclosed that more than $130 million has been disbursed by the Commission as it has sought to provide housing solutions for Barbadians and to construct roads across rural parishes. Outram admitted that such efforts were not without challenges, but they have nonetheless prevailed. (JRT)
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