Residents of West Bay Street are fuming at the owner of a lot with an abandoned house that has been allowed to become a blight on the neighborhood and a potential dengue fever factory.
The house, across the street from Cappriccio’s Restaurant on West Bay Street has been abandoned for several months. The grass has not been mowed and there is a large pile of garbage near the front gate of the property where rats congregate.
Neighbors say that the property has become a potential breeding ground for dengue-carrying mosquitos, rats and other disease-carrying insects.
“The property has been a problem for a long time. Even when the house was rented out, the owner refused to maintain the property as allegedly stipulated in the tenant’s lease,” one neighbor said.
“There are buckets and pockets of standing water where you can see swarms of mosquitos in the early morning and evening,” he added.
A Chinese-Bahamian named Mr Sit is allegedly the owner of the property but could not be reached for comment.
The Bahamas has seen a record number of cases of dengue fever this year, more than 1,500 reported cases and many more that have gone unreported. Officials are also investigating three reported deaths.
The Ministry of Environment has issued a guide for eliminating mosquito breeding grounds and is fogging in certain areas.
