Budding housing development furnishing hope in west Kgn
Published:Saturday | September 3, 2022 | 12:10 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
After decades of living in squalor within the shantytowns of Kingston Western, some residents are now banking on a new housing development in the area to improve their living conditions.
Ground for the Victoria Palms development was broken on Friday, signalling the start of the $71-million project being constructed under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) and the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) programme in collaboration with the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.
The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation has committed $50 million towards the project, through the NSHP, with the remaining $21 million being provided by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
The housing project, which is being carried out on approximately half an acre of land, is expected to reduce the overcrowding at the community of Board Villa in the constituency.
In his remarks, Kingston Western Member of Parliament Desmond McKenzie noted that Denham Town was particularly unique, as it is one of the oldest residential communities in Jamaica.
He mentioned that since 1989, residents in the area have been in desperate need of proper housing infrastructure.
In 2019, McKenzie – along with Prime Minister Andrew Holness and other stakeholders – toured areas of Kingston Western, including sections of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town, to assess the needs of residents. It was promised that assistance would be offered in the near future.
“Finally, I can say hope is on the horizon,” declared McKenzie, who is also the local government minister.
“We are not going to be able to, by snapping our fingers, correct all that was there from 1989, [but] this is a start, and there are more [projects] to come as we move to put proper housing in the community,” he added.
Under the project, a total of 20 units are being developed adjacent to St Alban’s Primary School along Albert Street. Construction is set to be completed by the end of 2023.
The Victoria Palms project will be split into two phases, with the first seeing the construction of 12 two-bedroom units over nine months. Phase Two, which consists of eight three-bedroom units, is scheduled to begin before the completion of Phase One.
Amenities will include green spaces, a play area for the recreation of children, and a gazebo complemented with seating areas.
In his keynote address, Holness recalled that he was deeply moved by the reality when he saw the state in which residents lived during his tour nearly three years ago.
“I toured Board Villa two years ago, I believe, before the pandemic, and it had a visceral effect on me. It affected me deeply, the conditions under which the persons were living there,” he said.
As beneficiaries of the new development will be living under a lease with conditions regarding use of land, Holness also warned that the buildings and environment should not be treated poorly once locals moved in.
“We are not building a slum. I want that to be clear. And we are not building facilities to be turned into a slum,” he said.
He went on to say that poverty was no excuse for improper garbage disposal.
“I don’t take that as an excuse,” he said.
Holness noted that as occupants will share common areas, they will be required to pay a maintenance fee to go towards the upkeep of the surrounding land.
A similar development is also set to be built in Rasta City in nearby Tivoli Gardens.