The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Senator Viana Gardiner yesterday chided Minister of Housing JoBeth Coleby-Davis for her repeated criticisms of the proposed Prospect Ridge housing development, saying the political campaign is over and there should now be “less talk and more work” done.

Since taking office, Mrs Coleby-Davis has heavily criticised the project stating there was no real plan in place to carry out the development.

The project, announced earlier this year by former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, was geared towards young professionals in terms of home ownership in an upscale community.

The Progressive Liberal Party has pointed out flaws in the scheme and considers it a campaign gimmick to acquire votes for the then FNM government.

During Senator Gardiner’s contribution in the Senate thanking the Governor General for reading the Speech from the Throne on Monday, she again defended the project saying a lot of fast tracked work was put into it.

“By all accounts, the community was advanced further and faster than any similar subdivision, having only been conceptualised earlier this year,” Ms Gardiner said. “The government retained a private environmentalist to carry out the environmental impact assessment.

“I will add that having an EIA executed on a government subdivision is not a common step, but because of the increased emphasis placed on the environment and concerns not to repeat exactly what was called out – Pinewood Gardens – an EIA was commissioned.”

Last week in the House of Assembly, Mrs Coleby-Davis tabled the Department of Environmental Planning & Protection’s response to an EIA for the housing development, which was ultimately rejected due to major questions that arose.

The September 24 letter from Department of Environmental Planning & Protection Director Rochelle Newbold pinpointed nearly 50 issues with the EIA for the project submitted by Island By Design in collaboration with JSS Consulting.

According to her letter, the EIA provided no information on how the development planned to fall in line with climate change impacts and was “devoid” of any geological information.

The letter said the EIA did not provide any information relative to flood potential or flood control, the potential disturbance and resulting impacts to the surrounding properties.

Despite this, Ms Gardiner, who headed the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit under the last administration, defended work done on the project under the FNM.

“The honourable minister of housing has persistently taken a position that uses the work under the former government to support an argument that no work was done or seeks to minimise the work done by the former government,” Ms Gardiner said. “It is beyond me to disentangle the circular nature of that argument.

“I do hope, however, that the longer the honourable minister is in her post, the more the amount of work that goes into a subdivision development would become clear and that she would have a better appreciation of just how far advanced the project was in comparison to similar projects that have literally taken many more years to advance.”

She called upon the current government to move on with the business of the people and recognise the campaign is over, saying the Bahamian people have had enough talk about the proposed Prospect Ridge subdivision.

“I believe the Bahamian people have had their fill on this subject,” she said. “Where we are now is needing less talk and more work. The political campaign is over. The ball is now in the new administration’s court.

“The honourable minister of housing and transport commented in her contribution on the resolution before us that the government is looking for additional land for housing developments.

“The opposition and people of The Bahamas will be watching to see whether the administration uses government land that the FNM administration intended to practically give to the people, across the islands of The Bahamas. Or whether they will purchase land from private citizens, at a price that causes the overall construction costs to be sky high.”

She also cautioned the Davis administration to avoid housing errors made by previous governments.

“The topic of housing has been very popular during this debate, in that other place and in this chamber.

“That is indicative, I think, of the fact that there is no disagreement across the aisle of the position in the Speech from the Throne that housing is considered a fundamental right.

“However, the Speech from the Throne clearly demonstrates the Davis administration’s intention to build houses. I wish only to admonish the government to take care to avoid some of the pitfalls the FNM administration discovered on coming to office in 2017, such as shoddily constructed houses that were overpriced.”

She said the Davis administration should be careful to hold contractors to account for industry standard work and pricing.