During a walk-about in southern New Providence, Prime Minister Perry Christie remarked that the government has introduced an innovation with regards to the Urban Renewal program and how it will assist with recovery and restoration post Hurricane Matthew.

While on tour of Adelaide Village and Marshall Road Mr. Christie asserted that Urban Renewal will expand from just nine centers to operating in every constituency in New Providence.

“We are taking Urban Renewal and integrating it into all of the constituencies in New Providence because we feel that is the best way to organize the response.

“Because of the damage that has happened to homes and properties, having Urban Renewal onboard will help to keep an organized system in place,” Mr. Christie said.

Mr. Christie noted that because there are extraordinary levels of devastation and loss within the southern areas, having Urban Renewal partner with NEMA, and making themselves visible in every constituency it will bring a sense of relief to those that suffer from a loss.

“To be able to have a police officer lead the response team in the community, to have them accountable, to demonstrate and be seen to have institutional leadership,” Mr. Christie said is the idea behind this new initiative.

Mr. Christie also noted that this direction was taken in order to assure residents in need that they will not be politically discriminated against and to remove element of ‘unfairness’ that persons in the community may have with regard to receiving assistance from the government.

Echoing Mr. Christie’s sentiments was Minister of Labor and National Hurricane Coordinator, Shane Gibson, who noted that the process for dealing with the restoration and relief efforts needed a better organized structure.

“The reality is, we have to put a process in place, we had to strengthen the structure because of all who were affected.

“The Urban Renewal structure will complement NEMA as they will work together along with other government ministries and with persons in the private sector,” Mr. Gibson said.

He noted that so far NEMA has rescued and recovered persons during the storm and brought relief to many others after the storm providing food, water and in some cases shelter.

Urban Renewal’s   function in the scheme of things is to keep the restoration team abreast of what is going on in the community and what is needed by the community in their attempt to get their lives back to normal.