Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 08, 2018 (SKNIS): Residents of Sandy Point, New Guinea, Newton Ground and Halfway Tree will be able to take comfort in knowing that their deceased loved ones will be buried a bit closer to home following the announcement of plans to construct a new public cemetery in Sandy Point.
Fourteen acres have been set aside for the burial site that will be located east of the Sandy Point Community Centre. The plans were outlined by Honourable Wendy Phipps, the Minister of State responsible for Health, at a town hall meeting on Tuesday (March 06) in Sandy Point.
There are three private cemeteries affiliated with the Methodist, Anglican and Catholic Churches in Sandy Point. Other churches in the area have to make use of the Springfield Cemetery in Basseterre, which is almost full.
“We (the Government) want to bring an end to that so that persons are buried in the communities where they are from, and you will have the privilege of accessing your relatives’ graves as often as you wish, as part of your grieving process to remember them on special occasions and have it right here in the community,” Minister Phipps said.
The infrastructure at the cemetery will be based on a nine foot deep ledge system that will allow multiple coffins to be placed in the same plot.
“What that does is that it extends the life of the cemetery. It also allows you, if you are interested, to have a family plot so that your mother and father or whoever can be in that same plot together,” the minister of health stated.
Government has already spent some $100,000 to clear the allocated land. Officials at the Ministry of Sustainable Development are scheduled to begin mapping the boundaries to be used by the various denominations within the cemetery in the coming weeks. The 14 acre of land space will make the new cemetery the largest one on island. Officials estimate that the facility will last approximately 25 years.
