Dear Editor,
I was alarmed to read in your edition of March 24 last, that prospective homeowners of the distressed ‘turnkey homes’ scheme at Perseverance will now interface with contractors and “request modifications” as the Board of CH&PA has decided to terminate the previous government’s system, due to mismanagement. Shocking cracks, flood-prone dwellings, inadequate drainage and mismanaged resources were some of the troubles reported.
With housing projects expected to be smooth, an executing agency, like CH&PA, is expected to supervise contractors and approve works, ensuring that housing and infrastructure is adequately designed and built. Even more so when a project is distressed the agency is expected to retain responsibility, working assiduously to turn matters around and salvaging the best outcome in the circumstances.
Is it that the CH&PA Board is abandoning homeowners in distress? (One recalls instantly “Lord Jim”, the Joseph Conrad creation where, as a storm approaches, the ship’s crew abandon ship, leaving passengers!) Or is it simply that the new Chair, Hamilton Green, is bent on highlighting ineptness of the previous government? Abandonment would clearly indict the CH&PA, not absolve it.
Inept or corrupt directors and personnel in CH&PA, expectedly, must be held to account; that is a separate issue. Very likely the CH&PA’s (and taxpayers’) plight includes finding additional capital funds. Nevertheless, individually or collectively, prospective homeowners at Perseverance are not equipped to spontaneously develop technology to “request modifications” remedying the faults above. Homeowners are still entitled to decent housing in a decent neighbourhood, and the Board of CH&PA must not be allowed to obstruct this entitlement.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Rodney
