St Vincent and the Grenadines government have approved an allocation for a parcel of land owned by the Crown at Lowmans Bay for fisherfolk relocated from Rose Place to construct their boat and storage units.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Wednesday said there was consultation with the Lands and Services Department to make sure that there’s no encroachment on the existing road and the boundaries for the Petrocaribe facility.
“There was excavation and clearance of approximately 5000 square feet of the Crown lands to make space for the relocating fisherfolk. And the survey was done on that parcel of land to mark 10 by 10 spots with adequate access between the lots and they were marked out to be assigned to be relocated and fisherfolk”.
Gonsalves said in collaboration with the president of the National Fisherfolk Organization the lots were assigned to 32 of them.
Gonsalves says the government is looking to acquire an unfinished structure to be used as an administrative centre for the fishing community.
”We want to acquire, In fact, Lynskey Douglas of the Port Project is in contact with the person who built it. We want to acquire it for the development of an administrative centre to provide service for the fishing community. They are also involved in negotiations to come to an agreement, and we’ll fix up that building”.
“We are also working with the National Fisherfolk Organization and there was a consultation with the President and Douglas at the end of the first week in August. The discussion involves support required by the fisherfolk such as security, lighting, sanitation, the road condition, the water supply and the future role of the National Fisherfolk Organization in Lowmans Bay regarding the administration over the community”, Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said in the week of August 15th, there was a clearing of the new path of the roadway to access Lowmans Bay in preparation for the placement of quarry material as a temporary improvement to the road surface.
“A letter has been sent to CWSA in respect of installing potable water, we are doing the same thing with VINLEC for the installation of at least two streetlights on the bay to serve as security lighting. Someone would also be hired as a security officer, more than likely it would be one of the affected persons”, Gonsalves said.
