Water to return to Nelson St HDC tenants

THE pleas of Nelson Street HDC (Housing Development Corporation) tenants have finally been heard, as work is under way to return their regular water supply.

Twenty-four apartments at 66-68, Nelson Street, Port of Spain, have been without running water since April.

Tenants told Newsday last week that several reports were made to the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and the HDC, but to no avail. They were repeatedly told the HDC was ready to fix the issue, but was awaiting feedback from WASA to begin.

On Friday Newsday spoke with Dike Noel, senior manager of corporate communications at the HDC, who said he would follow up with the corporation's estate management department.

Yesterday, Noel told Newsday work began at the apartment complex on Saturday morning and the HDC has assumed responsibility for addressing the issue.

Noel said, "What WASA had to do was to supply, replace and instal sections of the lines from the road main to the active water lines on the property, because they were heavily corroded. WASA had to deal with it."

He said, however, that the HDC was "not getting into any battle with another state agency.

"We're all working towards the good of the community, which is to provide them with a proper water supply in a timely manner.

"The HDC has taken a decision that they could not wait on WASA any longer and it will execute the necessary work. So the HDC did begin to address the problem, and has asked WASA to come in after to do the required inspection and assessments of the works that were completed."

Newsday contacted one of the tenants, who confirmed work has begun, saying, "Work began two days ago. So far, it's only the ground floor getting water, but they explained everything to us. They had to get one more part in order to complete it for all the apartments."

Work is expected to be completed this afternoon.