PRESS RELEASE

Housing Sites Explored

Members of the Human Settlement Task Force (HSTF) and officials from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) this week toured five potential sites for the construction of the first 500 houses to be donated to Grenada by the PRC.

Site visits, which took place from Monday to Wednesday (May 29 to 31), were conducted on Crown lands at Mt. Gay, and Frequente in the Parish of St. George, Black Bay in the Parish of St. John, Diamond in the Parish of St. Mark and Bellevue in the Parish of St. Andrew.

Information gathered by the Task Force members and the Chinese officials included technical details regarding topography, geological data and the physical layout. A mixture of housing designs will be incorporated in order to accommodate topography and access.

The HSTF members included Acting Head of the Physical Planning Unit Fabian Purcell, Director of the Lands and Survey Department Andrew Alleyne, Chief Technical Officer at the Housing Authority of Grenada Tim Byam, ARD Senior Projects Manager Robin Swaisland, ARD Architect and Historic Buildings Consultant Trevor Holmes, ARD Housing Coordinator Kitwana Folkes, ARD Human Settlement Specialist Ivan Laughlin and ARD Research Assistant Nicole Pivottte.

The PRC delegation comprised First Secretary Xu Zhiguang and Vice Director of a Division in the Ministry of Commerce Kexiang Ma.

A delegation from China is expected to visit Grenada in July to conduct a more in-depth evaluation of the sites for preparation of tender documents in order to recruit a contractor from China to construct the housing units.

June 2, 2006

Agency for Reconstruction and Development Inc.

Botanical Gardens, St. George’s, Grenada

Tel: 473-439-5606/07/08;

Fax: 473-439-5609;

Email: mail@ardgrenada.org
Website: www.ardgrenada.org