The government of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas says it plans on building new communities and villages across Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Senator Glen Noel, the Junior Minister of Housing and Lands, stated that the new communities and villages will be constructed under the government's Human Settlement Programme. Human settlement is a new and emerging concept that focuses on a country's development as it relates to housing, land use and the distribution of financial resources. Noel noted that the National Democratic Congress administration is developing a human settlement policy that will cover the period up to 2015. "Human settlement envisages the development of new communities that are centred around people,'' the Senator explained. "It envisages developing a new framework for the zoning of our lands, how we manage our lands and where we set up communities.'' Noel said another aspect of the government's Human Settlement Programme is trying to relocate persons living in hazardous areas. "We are looking to establish new communities with greater facilities with regard to physical infrastructure and physical amenities and so forth,'' he said. "It gives us an opportunity to remodel and reshape our society. Because it is often said that the way you shape your lands is the way you shape civilisation.'' Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com