By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
TEN percent of households in Bain Town had no electricity and 20 percent had no running water, according to a 2016 survey from the Ministry of National Security.
The revelation was contained in the white paper for the Minnis administration’s Over-the-Hill rejuvenation plan which was tabled in parliament yesterday. The survey was called the “Needs and Assets Assessments of New Providence Communities, Citizen Security and Justice Programme.”
In Centreville, 7.2 percent of houses had no electricity and 14 percent had no running water; likewise, 6.3 percent of houses in Grants Town had no electricity and 15.6 percent had no running water.
In 2016, the Department of Statistics, in their Labour Force Survey, determined that 12,000 Bahamians had their power disconnected due to non-payment.
The Ministry of National Security’s survey also highlighted the penetration of the internet in Over-the-Hill communities.
Many social scientists believe low penetration of digital technologies put some communities at a disadvantage, intensifying divisions between wealthier and poorer people.
In Bain Town, 43.3 percent of people had no internet; in Centreville 36.8 percent had no internet and in Grants Town, 56.5 percent lacked internet services. Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has promised to provide free Wi-Fi to these communities.
According to the survey, 6.3 percent of people in Bain Town use outside toilets or pit latrines; 4.3 percent of people in Centreville use them and 4.6 percent of people in Grants Town do so as well.
A 2013 report, ‘Private Dwellings by Type and Use of Toilet Facilities and Main Source of Water Supply Report’, reported that a total of 2,191 of the 102,758 households in the Bahamas were using pit latrines at the time of the survey.
Under the Over-the-Hill programme, the government wants to eradicate outside toilets in such communities by 2025.
The percentage of people in Bain Town, Centreville and Grants Town without cable television are 35.3 percent, 27.1 percent and 38.6 percent respectively.
Comments
DDK 5 years, 11 months ago
We do lag behind in our survey reports, why can't we get with it? This data is two years old! Talk about snails' pace. We need CURRENT reports to take CURRENT action!
TalRussell 5 years, 11 months ago
Luck has it our Comrade governing PLP's had number Social, Financial, Crime, Communities, Chief Justice Appointment, Local Nassau Government, Grand Bahamaland, Baha Mar Retart , Out Islands Airports and BahamaCARE Health improvement surveys under way - cause without the Imperial red cabinet wouldn't have but a single damn original thing read off the paper works - all intended for former PM Christie study over. The only original red shirts governing report for PM read is that ill prepared and ill conceived Over da Hill (40+ persons) committee report.
bogart 5 years, 11 months ago
....and survey data missing from other similar challenged areas, Kemp rd, Fox Hill, Grants town, Black Grove, etcetcetc challenged no internet, power turned off.....limited electronics...no internet....and somehow the banks ....govt authorities want banks to do a better job at educating these challenged citizens to go new electronic banking???.....isnt this something like reducing duties on Caviar and still talking about reducing prices on breadbasket ....the challenged majority need attention now and not 2 weeks before elections when all of a sudden their roads are repaved, garbage trucks show up ywice a day, places cleaned up an people given jobs.....
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
How many of the Bain Town people have $1000 smartphones???????? .......... PRIORITIES
DDK 5 years, 11 months ago
Politicians' criteria for prioritizing will often be different from the common sense criteria!
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
Yep ........ and parents wearing bling and Gucci ....... and their children on welfare lunch ........ PRIORITIES
John 5 years, 11 months ago
you sound like a jackass sheeprunner
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
John ( re: you sound like a jackass sheeprunner) ........ I really do not expect ghetto apologists like you to react any differently to my comments....... You and your ilk are either immorally profiting from these hand-to-mouth people OR they believe that these people must always be given handouts.
It is sickening to listen to politicians as they find excuses for Over The Hill ....... These were people who came here as liberated Africans and set up in these townships by the British Government ..... These people were never enslaved ......... But modern governments have "enslaved" them into becoming subservient and dependent on welfare.
BTW: The majority of our post-1967 black politicians came from Over-the-Hill ....... Go figger
bogart 5 years, 11 months ago
Proper sociological studies need to be condicted in these areas as the dynamics are different. What may be viewed as a status symbal and an excellent working device the expensive phone may not carry the same weight in a more affluent area...a person was stabbed recently in one of these areas over an alleged broken phone whereas someone from a more affluent area may simply not have the phone in such importance and easily buy another Group dynamics, relations between foreign migrants moving upwards into these communities etc need to also be studied ...... Long Islanders are viewed as hardworking law abiding religeous people however with the introdiction of webshop gambling it would appear that these cherished values may change..?dynamics....street smart...book knowledge...values.religion....culture,...norns mores...tabooes
sheeprunner12 5 years, 11 months ago
Webshop gambling is a widespread social problem in our country in every community and every island ...... Our MP is just willing to stand up and speak out against the Vice .......... while many other MPs are either just cowards or they are in the pockets of the webshop bosses ..... Bad example.
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