The government jumpstarted its highly-touted Urban Renewal 2.0 Programme yesterday by demolishing an abandoned house on the intersection of Apple and Peach Streets in the Centreville constituency.
Prime Minister Perry Christie, who also represents the Centreville constituency in the House of Assembly, was on hand for Tuesday’s exercise.
Mr. Christie, who heavily referenced the previous Urban Renewal programme implemented under his first administration as a leading crime fighting strategy throughout the recent election campaign cycle, again spoke of the impact he believes the programme will have in its second installation.
“The other side (the FNM) used to say that police officers delivering food to people and delivering other services to people are not what police officers are supposed to be, but you can see senior police officers here today performing what is happening here,” Mr. Christie said.
“They are effectively able to move into the community, look at places where people can store weapons and then move all these things from the communities.”
An inter-ministerial team, along with senior law enforcement officers is currently conducting assessments of several areas in New Providence and Grand Bahama that are deemed hot spots for criminal activity.
“This is important to the very basic function of police officers – removing opportunities for people to hide weaponry,” the prime minister said.
“Urban Renewal is simply a programme of mobilising opinions and views within a community to a point that it crystalises in the belief that we must protect ourselves – we must see garbage around the community as harmful to us; we must see derelict vehicles and dilapidated buildings as harmful to us. And while we expect the government to help us, we also understand that there are some things we must do for ourselves.”
Despite this inaugural public Urban Renewal exercise taking place in the Centreville constituency, Mr. Christie said that more exercises are planned for other areas and he noted that the programme is ongoing.
The government has also pledged to give assistance to people living in dilapidated houses who are seeking to rebuild their homes; these efforts will be done through the Ministry of Social Services.
