AN elder from Kolobora village in East Central Guadalcanal Constituency has urged the new Member of Parliament (MP) for the electorate, Lazarus Alfred Rina to carry on with the constituency housing project that his predecessors failed to complete during their term in office.
Mr Stephen Sapo, pictured, expressed frustration over the failure by the previous MPs to complete the constituency housing project for Kolobora village, which he said is crucial to provide people with decent shelter and improve their wellbeing.
He said the issue of incomplete housing project for Kolobora community is a longstanding one and urged the new MP to address it.
‘’For many years now this issue of constituency housing project in our community remains outstanding. Our past Parliamentarians failed to fulfil their promises to us for housing project under the Constituency Housing scheme.
“This is a sad reality in our community. Nothing has changed our community. Our standard of living is just the same as before even though many promises were made to us by our leaders to provide us with descent homes.
‘’There are a number of incomplete buildings from many years ago still standing with bare structures. People are waiting for assistance from our leaders to constituency-funded homes but nothing has happened until today,” Mr Sapo said.
Mr Sapo said due to bureaucratic hurdles and the lack of commitment by past MPs to follow through with their promises, the housing scheme projects remained unfinished, leaving many families in uncertainty over the completion of their supposedly iron-roofing homes.
“Our leaders promised to provide proper housing for all of us members of the community and promised to prioritize housing to improve our living standard but nothing significant has happened,” he added.
Mr Sapo said the new MP should ensure the completion of these houses as it would be a waste of money and resources to allow them to stand incomplete only to rot away.
“I call on our new MP to intervene and expedite the process to ensure that the housing initiatives are completed without further delay.”
The constituency housing scheme project was introduced by the national government through the Rural Constituency Development Fund with the objective to provide proper housing for constituents nationwide.
MP Rina, a former Member of the Guadalcanal Provincial Assembly, was elected in this year’s National General Election on April.
He defeated the three-term former MP, Ishmael Avui. The MP for East Central Guadalcanal prior to the election of Mr Avui was Joseph Onika (Late).
By JIMMY NOLAN
Solomon Star, Honiara
The bare structure of an incomplete house in Kolobora village (second from right) funded under the East Central Guadalcanal Constituency Housing Scheme
