A group of Trinidadian investors visited Montserrat last week to explore the possibility of building a housing development on the island.
Premier Reuben Meade announced their interest during a United Alliance town hall meeting on 10 January in Salem.
He revealed that the investors have already spoken with the banking sector, which has agreed to support mortgage financing.
“They will be back on Montserrat towards the end of this month to do the engineering and other assessments before they start drawing the plans,” Meade said.
Once the plans are finalised, the government will make them available to the public.
Meade highlighted that the development would provide an alternative for those not looking to build homes from scratch.
It would also make it easier for people returning to Montserrat to secure housing, he said.
In the United Alliance’s 12-page manifesto, launched on 21 August, 2024, the party described its short, medium and long term plans for housing and construction in Montserrat.
In the short term, from zero to one year, the party said it would remove duties on building materials, and review the government’s housing policy to ensure affordable housing is accessible for all residents.
It also promised to identify owners of abandoned residential properties that have fallen into disrepair and develop partnerships for refurbishing these properties to add to the island’s housing stock.
In the medium term, from one to five years, the party said it will refurbish the government’s housing stock.
And in the long term, from five years onward, the party planned to ensure affordable housing remains accessible for all residents.
If the duties on solar panels and related equipment such as inverters and storage battery systems, were eliminated, it would be a boon to the installation of solar on the roofs of homes. In the aggregate, those solar panel systems could eliminate the persistent problems with rolling blackouts if Monlec were to permit net metering so that the generated and stored energy could be provided to the power grid. The amount of solar energy incident on Montserrat roofs, could easily supply all the needs of the island at a fraction of the cost of one geothermal well.
I am an electrical engineer, patent attorney and Montserrat property owner (family built house in 1976 in Olveston).