Land shortage will not hinder housing drive – Duggins
MORE HOUSING UNITS WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE in St Kitts and Nevis despite a land shortage, Housing Minister, Samal Duggins assured citizens of the twin-island Federation.
Provision of new homes was a major campaign theme of the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) during the run-up to the August 5th 2022 polls which the then opposition outfit, led by Dr Terrance Michael Drew, won.
Duggins, who is also the agriculture minister in the SKNLP Cabinet, in an exclusive with www.sknnewssource.com, said he remains committed to fulfilling his party’s campaign covenant brokered with its constituencies.
The twin island comprises only 68 square miles of land, and unsurprisingly, there are challenges satisfying current housing demands.
“Considering our assets and limitations as we are only 68 square miles, we do have to develop more housing and other social aspects,” he noted.
“So, there is a competition for land and it is already scarce resource regardless of how we look at it,” the minister said.
“As I had committed during the campaign trail to enhance and transform the industry as I got to the minds on the ground and continue the conversation. As a country I intend to tap into the various minds on the ground to use it as a foundation as I create a very practical plan for agriculture going forward,” he promised.
The agriculture minister, who is also a farmer, reasoned that to enhance and improve the agriculture sector, there must be the ability to sustain the people. He noted that the opportunity is ripe for the Federation to transform itself into a net exporter of agriculture products.
“So, our agriculture plan must consider all of this to see how we can fashion something, that notwithstanding our limitations, we will be able to sustain our people and also be a viable means of export. I really think that we can be a huge exporter considering technology and farming,” Duggins reasoned.
“There are so many areas of farming that can benefit from the technological advancements that we are seeing now as I believe that we can harness that. Our country, which is really blessed and investors will continue to be attracted to our country,” he said.
He is confident Basseterre will attract requisite external funding to push the local Agri sector and make the country regionally competitive in the field.
“We can find monies so that we can become a viable competitor on the regional scale when it comes to (food) security and export,” minister Duggins said.
