The Trinidad and Tobago Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has embarked on a community environmental awareness project which is aimed at building sustainable and greener HDC housing communities. This initiative was formally launched on Friday June 28 when Housing and Urban Development Minister, Edmund Dillon; MP for St. Joseph, Terrence Deyalsingh; HDC Chairman Newman George and Chairman, NH International Caribbean Limited, Emile Elias, planted two mahogany trees at the Mahogany Court, Mt Hope housing development. Today (July 02), Minister Dillon, HDC Chairman; Newman George, HDC Managing Director; Brent Lyons, HDC vacation interns and young students from Egypt Trace ECCE Centre, participated in the second tree planting initiative at Oasis Greens, Chaguanas where poui, palm, pommerac trees were planted.
Due to the negative impact of global warming on the environment, the HDC views this initiative as a great opportunity to increase awareness and change attitudes about environmental issues. In addition to the tree planting, the HDC has also created green spaces in some of our housing communities and adopted sustainable approaches for housing construction. An example of these environmentally-friendly practices, can be found at Carina Gardens, Arima, and a number of our newer housing communities where the HDC has introduced grass pavers, a porous, eco-friendly option for driveways and parking spaces.
At today’s tree planting exercise, Housing and Urban Development Minister expressed his appreciation for the HDC’s approach to today’s environmental challenges and said he looks forward to the adoption of better environmental practices, not just in HDC communities but all housing communities.
Over the next year, the HDC intends to construct recreational/play parks in over twenty (20) housing communities and will incorporate green spaces as a key aspect of these parks.
