Rhon­da Krys­tal Ram­bal­ly

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar says Gov­ern­ment will pro­vide jobs for an es­ti­mat­ed 30,000 un­em­ployed peo­ple in the con­struc­tion sec­tor through the con­struc­tion of more hous­es. She said hous­ing was a key part of T&T's so­cial sup­port sys­tem which act­ed as a spring­board to get peo­ple out of dis­ad­van­tage and pover­ty. The Prime Min­is­ter was speak­ing yes­ter­day to new home­own­ers, fire vic­tims and ben­e­fi­cia­ries of grants at the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion Build­ing, South Quay, Port-of-Spain. Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the hous­ing sec­tor was vi­tal to eco­nom­ic growth.

She said she read news­pa­per re­ports where Cen­tral Bank Gov­er­nor Ewart Williams said Gov­ern­ment need­ed to in­vest in in­fra­struc­ture. "As we do that, we cre­ate jobs and when you cre­ate those jobs that in turn goes in­to the mul­ti­pli­er ef­fect that spins in­to the econ­o­my be­cause then you need to buy goods and ser­vices," Per­sad-Bisses­sar said. Gov­ern­ment was not com­pla­cent, she said, and with a sen­si­ble ap­proach by all part­ners there soon would be a sta­ble and sus­tain­able growth with­in the hous­ing mar­ket. She added: "Trinidad and To­ba­go is fac­ing a se­ries of chal­lenges which re­quire a de­ter­mined and col­lec­tive re­sponse from stake­hold­ers.

"These chal­lenges in­clude en­sur­ing the eco­nom­ic pros­per­i­ty and sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment of our cities and of our rur­al ar­eas." She said yes­ter­day's cer­e­mo­ny was recog­ni­tion of the fun­da­men­tal con­tri­bu­tion which hous­ing played in that ef­fort. Five peo­ple re­ceived keys for new homes af­ter theirs were de­stroyed by fire, 11 got grants for home im­prove­ment and 33 got keys for new homes. Speak­ing to re­porters af­ter the event, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said for the rest of the month and next month, Gov­ern­ment would turn the sod for sev­er­al new projects "to fur­ther kick­start the econ­o­my."