A celebratory moment for residents of Spring City and Crossing Rock, Abaco, who waited years to take possession of their homes and or to receive their conveyance and their deeds.

Paying a visit to the island Friday  was Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis  who shared this news.

He said,“today, it is my pleasure to inform the residents of Crossing Rock that the deeds and conveyances to their properties have been prepared and can be collected from the Office of The Prime Minister in March Harbour.

“It is now my great privilege and pleasure to present the keys to the homeowners of Spring City and to present conveyance to the residents of Crossing Rock who are in attendance,” Dr. Minnis said.    

In the case of Spring City,  homeowners  getting to this point was no easy feat. As the Prime Minister tells it, the construction of homes in Spring City, presented a series of challenges.

“The construction of houses in Spring City presented many challenges. Tough the funds for completion were disbursed, none of the houses were completed. 

“The houses were left in various stages of completion, but with no funds to complete the homes. Sadly, all of the funding for this project was paid out, but with no financial means of completing the eighteen houses, as all funds borrowed from NIB were depleted,” he said. 

The government last year embarked on a service lot programme aimed at giving Bahamians access to affordable homes by transferring land titles to qualified candidates. 

There are 60 lots available for sale in Abaco’s Central Pines area. The related concessions include exemptions from customs duties and excise tax on all material necessary for building a single-family home. 

The new homeowners had a few things to say after being presented their keys.

“I work three jobs just trying to get life together as well as going to school fulltime and having a fulltime job. It feels good, it’s definitely a relief,” said one of the new homeowners. 

“I’m just so excited and emotional because it took a long time for me to get this. I’ve been working to my job for 10 years and I actually did it,” Okita Parks said.

“It’s been an overwhelming experience and it’s been really tough and rough at the same time and it was exciting. It was just a lot of emotions mixed up in one,” Kyle Johnson said.