Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid, told the media he was very happy with the response given to the day�s Land Fair.
By Marsha Gittens
Barbadians did not miss out on an opportunity to own a piece of the rock as scores of them attended the National Housing Corporation�s (NHC) Land Fair on Saturday.
It was reported that from as early as 8:30 in the morning individuals were present at Deanstown Heights, St. James making their assessment of the land which overlooks Westmoreland Development. Lots ranging from 5000 to 10 000 square feet were being sold. The set time for the Fair was 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Speaking to the media, Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance,
Dr. William Duguid said Saturday�s Fair was the first in a series of land fairs the NHC plans to have. The section comprised 140 lots and some of the lots were bought prior to the day�s event. Duguid shared that the 62 lots remaining were sold on the day within two hours. The lots on offer were priced at �$18 per square foot�.
�Let me thank the people of Barbados for coming out and giving tremendous support to what would have been our first land fair here at Deanstown Heights. As I understand it � within two hours 62 lots sold here for the National Housing Corporation and I am very, very happy at the tremendous support that was given to us to start this project with the first 62 lots. That brings a total of 140 lots here that have been made available for housing here at Deanstown Heights. I am very, very happy with the support and I think it gives us a tremendous start to be able to house the nation,� he stated.
The Housing Minister attributed the excellent public response to the day�s Fair to the need by Barbadians for housing solutions.
�Clearly, we see that there is great need for over 60 lots to be sold in two hours. There is great need for housing solutions in Barbados and we are going to work hard to be able to meet that need for the people of Barbados,� it was further pointed out.
He said the next land fair will be soon.
�The second one we will be having will be Lancaster Phrase 3 and we hope to break ground on that next month and as soon as we break ground, we will have another land fair like this and that is a total 183 lots and once we get those lots going we hope that people will be able to get their housing starts going as quickly as possible to get that next 183 lots into production for people to get shelter here in this country,� he added.