debut: 2/16/17
35,103 runs
Ex-minister in land development controversy
Rousillac
Last Thursday, a group of nine landowners at the Grant’s Park, Rousillac Development took the day off from work to share their experiences as a community. The families paid up to $300,000 for individual parcels of land at the developments, located in Santa Cruz, Rousillac and Claxton Bay.
The vast expanse of dry, bushy land at the site extends from the top of a steep hill down to a flat area that seems ideal for planting crops. The site is less than a three-minute drive from Rousillac’s famed barbecue stretch. There were no street lights on the property. The community road needs repaving. Across the sizeable development, there are ten homes—most still under construction—being built piece by piece. All of the homes have PVC pipes running from their gutterings into tanks.
Nkosi (name changed on request) has been living there since December 2018. The development does not have a WASA connection so he, like the others, pay between $400 to $600 for a truckload of water to fill up tanks. “The company did not pay the interconnection fee to WASA, so we were advised by the MP to go and find out the cost, and when we went there, it was upwards of $45,000. I think it is unfair that after spending all this money, all these residents now have to come and fork out extra money to pay for a connection for WASA. I think Dr Charles is taking advantage of us, and it doesn’t seem like he’s doing it to us alone, but to a lot of people throughout the country,” Nkosi said.
“I had a young family. We were given a lot of positive talk that we know now was a lot of gas-up talk from Policy Consultants. There are people here who bought land over 17 years ago and are still struggling without water. Mr Charles, for the last five years, hasn’t answered his phone. When you visit his office, it is always locked up. ”“It doesn’t feel good and it brings forth the point, the reality of the whole thing—don’t trust those in authority, whether it’s politicians or whoever, don’t trust them. Things happening in the country that we don’t know about. I’m not political. I don’t argue for no party but don’t trust them just cause they in a big position or a respectable position to run the country or the run things or to have a seat and stand up and do things for people,” he said.
Residents also paid $64,000 to get electricity to their homes. T&TEC, however, told residents the developer had seemingly abandoned the project. Another Grant’s Park Development resident, Sharmilla (whose name has also been changed), was one of the residents who put up the money. For nine years, her property had no electricity. “December 2023 was when T&TEC came and put the three poles in and they put the infrastructure in and we went ahead and got our connections. It was very challenging because you know I have young children. We needed a place to live. All of our life savings and everything was invested in this. We had to do what we could to make it work. “We are very disappointed with Mr Charles. When we met him and when we bought this property, he was in government office, so we thought this was a man of integrity. At this point, what we would want, in addition to proper roads, drainage, water, standpipes, street lights, we would want Mr Charles to reimburse us for the monies paid to T&TEC because that was his responsibility,” Sharmilla said.
Rousillac
Last Thursday, a group of nine landowners at the Grant’s Park, Rousillac Development took the day off from work to share their experiences as a community. The families paid up to $300,000 for individual parcels of land at the developments, located in Santa Cruz, Rousillac and Claxton Bay.
The vast expanse of dry, bushy land at the site extends from the top of a steep hill down to a flat area that seems ideal for planting crops. The site is less than a three-minute drive from Rousillac’s famed barbecue stretch. There were no street lights on the property. The community road needs repaving. Across the sizeable development, there are ten homes—most still under construction—being built piece by piece. All of the homes have PVC pipes running from their gutterings into tanks.
Nkosi (name changed on request) has been living there since December 2018. The development does not have a WASA connection so he, like the others, pay between $400 to $600 for a truckload of water to fill up tanks. “The company did not pay the interconnection fee to WASA, so we were advised by the MP to go and find out the cost, and when we went there, it was upwards of $45,000. I think it is unfair that after spending all this money, all these residents now have to come and fork out extra money to pay for a connection for WASA. I think Dr Charles is taking advantage of us, and it doesn’t seem like he’s doing it to us alone, but to a lot of people throughout the country,” Nkosi said.
“I had a young family. We were given a lot of positive talk that we know now was a lot of gas-up talk from Policy Consultants. There are people here who bought land over 17 years ago and are still struggling without water. Mr Charles, for the last five years, hasn’t answered his phone. When you visit his office, it is always locked up. ”“It doesn’t feel good and it brings forth the point, the reality of the whole thing—don’t trust those in authority, whether it’s politicians or whoever, don’t trust them. Things happening in the country that we don’t know about. I’m not political. I don’t argue for no party but don’t trust them just cause they in a big position or a respectable position to run the country or the run things or to have a seat and stand up and do things for people,” he said.
Residents also paid $64,000 to get electricity to their homes. T&TEC, however, told residents the developer had seemingly abandoned the project. Another Grant’s Park Development resident, Sharmilla (whose name has also been changed), was one of the residents who put up the money. For nine years, her property had no electricity. “December 2023 was when T&TEC came and put the three poles in and they put the infrastructure in and we went ahead and got our connections. It was very challenging because you know I have young children. We needed a place to live. All of our life savings and everything was invested in this. We had to do what we could to make it work. “We are very disappointed with Mr Charles. When we met him and when we bought this property, he was in government office, so we thought this was a man of integrity. At this point, what we would want, in addition to proper roads, drainage, water, standpipes, street lights, we would want Mr Charles to reimburse us for the monies paid to T&TEC because that was his responsibility,” Sharmilla said.
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