Petite Savanne resettlement back on track after Maria

 

 

Construction at the site before Hurricane Maria. Photo: Chad Ambo

A project to resettle the people of Petite Savanne, who were displaced by Tropical Storm Erika, is now back on track after a temporary halt due to the passage of Hurricane Maria.

The project in Bellevue Chopin is being done by the Montreal Management Consultants Est (MMCE) and liaison officer, Garvin Joseph said contractors are now in full force at the site.

“Bellevue Chopin has come a long way, it is significant progress where it has set the standard as the model for social housing in the region,” he said at a press conference on Monday morning.

He said due to the passage of Hurricane Maria, work at the site was “temporarily halted.

“However after the assault of Hurricane Maria, at present, the project is back on track with most of the contractors now in full force on site,” he remarked.

The project consists of 340 residential units and was intended to house the people of Petite Savanne.

The community was deemed unsafe after the passage of Tropical Storm Erika.

In a press release in 2016, the company gave the following timeline for the project:

· July 1 – clearing the site
· July 15 – bidding process concludes
· August 1 – mobilization of the project management team and selected contractor
· September 1 – construction work starts
· September 30, 2017 – expected date of completion

Liaison officer Garvin Joseph

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20 Comments

  1. naturesbest
    December 20, 2017

    where as i understand what you are saying but the question is..whose fault?…. Are they trying to help themselves?….wat do u want the gov to do?…give every household a house and 2 acres of land?..come on man..allu stretching it wi pal…

  2. Progress
    December 19, 2017

    I want to know why the occupants of the Skerritt apartments in Elmshall have not yet paid a cent in rent. Freeness for one set, how will the country prosper. I hope those in Petite Savanne have to pay something towards the apartment. We cannot be taking the country money and building apartments to get ZERO back in return.

  3. Jack Sprat
    December 19, 2017

    You all did not get the message? What did Hurricane Maria have to do with a project that, based on the information presented, should have been completed in September 2016?

    Ma gway sa!! Hurricane Maria was in September 2017!

    • Jack Sprat
      December 19, 2017

      Oops! My Bad!! :mrgreen:

      If the project was to have been completed at end of September 2017 and the hurricane hit on 18th September, one must ask –
      1. how much work was actually left undone; and
      2. what is the estimated time to complete the works.

    • A. George
      December 19, 2017

      ummm read again boo.. the announcement was made in 2016 but the date of completion was September 2017 … #yourewelcome

  4. Lloyd Littlewood
    December 19, 2017

    All the money donated should have been invested in making Petite Savanne a safe place to live so the residents can continue to live in the village that generations before them did. How can a government just close a village and pretend it no longer exists! People still live there yet doctors and church services, water, electricity are all banned and turned off. The government should be ashamed. All that money paying for people to stay in a guest house for years! I will always stay in Petite Savanne when I visit!

    • A. George
      December 19, 2017

      find an aerial shot of the village and you will see y … next village to move is Good Hope… so many people here living in death traps … y cant we do better than the generations before?

  5. December 19, 2017

    Blame mother native don’t blame anyone,The people who got devastated by the storm have a choice to rebuild there own home where is comfortable and safed for them.

    • December 19, 2017

      Correction mother nature

  6. John
    December 18, 2017

    In my opinion it would make sense to construct a lot of buildings such as these hurricane proof apartments and move the people from the rural communities into them, because a lot of the houses are not hurricane proof. If construction is permitted throughout the island there needs to be strict building codes so that there is not a repeat of people losing their roofs which will cost millions of dollars to fix. Every one knows that because of climate change the frequency of severe hurricanes will get worse in the future. People should also be encouraged to construct underground or above ground concrete shelters if they can afford to close to their homes like they have in US states like Oklahoma and Texas which have frequent tornados. Underground shelters are relatively cheap to construct using concrete blocks. Just a thought, I hate to see the Dominican people go through this they do not deserve it.

  7. Real truth
    December 18, 2017

    We are fast becoming an island of non eco friendly housing projects…….folks…. 21’st agricultural technology , and Eco themed family parks are our last hope……this present government is completltely useless…..we are headed straight into the hands of the NWO puppet masters!

    • DM
      December 18, 2017

      Yes well its nice to have Eco friendly housing but I’m not sure they can withstand category 5 hurricanes. When peoples houses get destroyed by these severe hurricanes, its the government everybody is expecting to do something about it.
      Also the type of Eco friendly houses that may withstand severe hurricanes probably cost more than these conventional houses that are being built which will burn through the money supply that the government has
      and enough houses might be built , all these things have to be taken into consideration.

      • DM
        December 18, 2017

        enough houses might not be built.Is what I meant.

  8. Roger Burnett
    December 18, 2017

    “340 residential units to house the people of Petite Savanne”

    Yes, the people, but not their lifestyle. Petite Savanne, as I knew it, was not a community of town houses.

    • Justice
      December 18, 2017

      Town houses?? I never saw one in Petite Savanne. Do you know what’s a town house?

      • December 19, 2017

        @Justice, Blame mother nature do not blame anybody esle,They have a choice to rebuild their home where is comfortable and safe nobody taken their home from them,

      • Roger Burnett
        December 19, 2017

        Dear Justice,

        You never saw a town house in Petite Savanne because there never was one.

        Please read my comment again carefully.

    • Titiwi
      December 19, 2017

      Roger, my concern is where are the jobs for our people to finance this lifestyle. I do not see any gardens where they can grow food, never mind keep chickens or a pig. Looking at these developments it appears to me they will be living cheek to jowl. Who is going to keep the place clean and control noise pollution and I really wonder whether our authorities have given enough thought to these issues. A house does not necessarily make a home.

      • Dominican
        December 20, 2017

        I guess the salient question is would the people in chargge of such projects want to live there themselves? Remember in the USA the term “projects” , with regard to housing has bad connotations by itself.

      • Ras Ju
        December 24, 2017

        The people have now been acclimatised to living in this sort of environment. I was worried about that at the beginning too.
        Agriculture is in decline all over Dominica and there is no major argument to be presented about the people not having land. The land they own in the old village is still theirs and it is not a million miles away.
        People will be able to go there to grow their crops and almost continue as normal.
        People adapt with changing circumstances and I know my people will do so

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