Government to get outside experts to make a plan to resettle displaced Petite Savanne residents

​Government is now announcing plans to engage an outside firm to prepare a settlement plan, to relocate former residents of Petite Savanne, who were displaced after the passage of Tropical Storm Erika.
 
Out of a total population of 72,340; 14 people were confirmed dead, 16 missing, 574 homeless and 1034 evacuated, with approximately 7,229 impacted by the event in special disaster zones. Over nine hundred people were evacuated from Petite Savanne and Dubique.
 
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a recent radio interview “We have acquired the lands, we have done sub-divisions, & we have engaged an international firm to prepare a settlement plan for us”.
 
The land acquired in Bellevue Chopin, will reportedly accommodate the residents of Petite Savanne, and officials say it is being surveyed, while the displaced residents of Dubique are accommodated in Grand Bay.
 
Mr Skerrit disclosed that the legal process is continuing, but once government compulsorily acquires property, it has to be gazetted twice to enable the government to have full access.
 
The Prime Minister said, “What we want to do is not just put down houses. If it was just to put down houses, we would have started constructing those houses for the Petite Savanne people, but we want to ensure that we create a community”.
 
“This is why we thought it was necessary to bring in people with that kind of expertise to review the plans that we already have, so that we can have the subdivision done,” the Prime Minister added.