BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Wednesday 23rd December 2020) – Having purchased 5.96 acres of land from the government at Dewar’s Estate in the west Basseterre area, a multi-million dollar housing project by TDC Ground of Companies is expected to see the employment of a couple hundred of workers from various fields such as carpenters, plumbers, electricians and air condition technicians over the life of the project with construction set to begin in January 2021.
On Tuesday 22nd December 2020, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Dewar’s Garden Housing Development. Symbolically turning the soil were TDC Chairman Earle Kelly and St.Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris.
Kelly, in speaking about the impact on the local economy, touched on the area of job creation for the project which is slated to be built out within three to five years.
“We think that this project is going to be very, very important. The economic impact of course is going to be tremendous. We estimate that the cost of building this project, having spent 3.3 million dollars already, the total will be about $16. 5 [million] when the all 30 homes are completed.”
He continued: “We expect over the life of the project to employ a couple hundred employees-masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, air condition technicians, labourers, heavy equipment and truck operators and of course the folks at the [TDC’s] Home and Building Depot, they will be engaged so we will be able to create and maintain some jobs. [TDC’s] St.Kitts Masonry products of course, the folks that manufacture concrete and blocks. We consider this as a very important contribution of the TDC Group to the local economy.”
According to the TDC Chairman, so far the response has been overwhelming in relation to interested home buyers which has seen four sales so far and another four being worked on “Up to today, we had a total of 143 interests. Of course not all interests are going to pan out and so far we’ve had four sales that we’re working on and so we should start construction in January… and then we have another four we’re working on which we expect to conclude in the next couple of months.”
He said the company started discussions back in 2017 with the government and finally in May 2018, an agreement was made to purchase 5.69 acres of land. “We don’t think we’ll have a problem selling this development because it’s so beautiful. We have developed the 5.69 acres into 30 lots ranging in size from 620,000 square feet 724,000 square feet,” he told whilst noting that there is a green area that is just over 6,000 square feet.
Kelly said the cost of the project has reached $3 million, 331thousand which includes the purchase of land, transfer taxes, construction of the roadway, installation of the water distribution system, electricity supply, fiber infrastructure for cable along the design of the houses. Eight models are being offered namely three two-bedroom models-Gardenia, Iris, Lion Heart with prices ranging from $540,000 to $560,000 at 1525 to 1551 square feet.
Additionally, there are four three bedroom models- Elephant Ear, Jade Vine , Magnolia and Willow prices at $630,000 to just over $1 million dollars with areas of 1802 to 3134 square feet plus just one four-bedroom model called the Blue Belle at of cost of $960,000 with an area of 2754 square feet.
Prices of lots start at $20, $21 and $22 per square foot.
Prime Minister Harris described the day as a wonderful one as he praised TDC’s continued move to advance the quality of life in St.Kitts and Nevis.
“…today is a wonderful day. In fact, I see it as TDC’s Christmas gift to the people of St.Kitts and Nevis, and I want to commend TDC because it has been a dynamic group of companies that has always been looking for opportunities, ceasing them and advancing the quality of life in St.Kitts and Nevis,” he remarked.