The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has ordered that Urban Renewal centres be established in a number of islands, Press Secretary Anthony Newbold said yesterday.

“To aid in the revitalization of the inner city communities, Urban Renewal centres are to be restructured,” he said.

“Several centres are to be combined and new ones created in the MICAL islands, Long Island, Mt Moriah, Adelaide and Bamboo Town. Centres are to be reopened on Cat Island, Rum Cay, Eleuthera, (Central and South) North Andros, North Abaco and Exuma. In all there will be 25 Urban Renewal centres.”

“The restructuring will enunciate clearly the vision for the Urban Renewal Programme thus avoiding overlap and duplication of effort with what other agencies and institutes are doing in those communities.

Twenty centre managers are to be appointed to facilitate this restructuring.

There will be a return to appointing leaders from within those communities who can deal effectively with issues they identify and understand and who will likely be more effective than any central commission or committee.”

In Opposition, Dr Minnis was critical of Urban Renewal, saying it had become nothing more than a scheme turning trained police officers into delivery boys. Since coming into office, some in the administration have said they have “grave concerns” over how Urban Renewal was managed under the former administration.

During yesterday’s press briefing, Mr Newbold also revealed that the government has accepted Disaster Relief Funding from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in the amount of $200,000 in the wake of Hurricane Irma.