ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) – The Grenada Government, through the Ministry of Social Development and Housing  will be embarking on a project that will give grants to thousands of people, currently using pit latrines to enable them to construct bathrooms and toilets with potable water.

According to Delma Thomas, the minister for social development and housing, funding for the project will be through the additional EC$5 million allocated to her ministry in the 2020 budget which is currently being debated in Parliament.

“Inside bathrooms are basic human rights. Recently, we are seeing a significant shift from pit latrines to toilets and bathrooms. It is a health hazard and we must get rid of health hazards in our communities,” she said, while deliberating on the programmes of her ministry as part of the budget debate.

She indicated that there will be challenges to implementing the projects for some homeowners because there will be issues with land ownership for erecting these concrete structures because not everyone owns the land where the homes are located.

The plan is to install 10,000 toilets and bathrooms throughout the island.

Grenada, as a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, is committed to achieving Goal 6 which focuses on clean water and sanitation.

That goal requires states to provide access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, and an end to open defecation, with special attention paid to the needs of women and girls, and those in vulnerable situations.

The sale of latrine units will be among licensing fees that Government will be taking measures to repeal in 2020.

November 19 was observed globally as World Toilet Day. The theme this year was ‘Leaving no one behind’. The theme was very relevant to the task of tackling the global sanitation crisis and in helping to achieve Goal 6 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals of ensuring “sanitation for all by the year 2030”.