PM: I don’t like to lick down people building
Holness offers hope with housing plan amid demolition
Published:Saturday | October 8, 2022 | 12:09 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Friday said that his administration has a master plan for 15,000 housing solutions on lands located in the vicinity of Clifton in St Catherine, a day after the Government moved in to bulldoze unfinished structures in an unauthorised section.
The demolition exercise caused severe stress and anguish for many home hopefuls, some of whom had reportedly paid huge sums of money to unscrupulous persons for lots, believing the properties were being sold legitimately.
“This community and this area is about to experience a transformation,” Holness said as he toured the area on Friday and met with peeved residents, following the demolition of 10 of 30 unfinished houses that were marked for destruction.
He told residents that some lands have been made available for affordable houses that the Housing Agency of Jamaica and National Housing Trust will develop.
He added that people would have the options to acquire a parcel of land, or a starter unit, or a full unit, pointing out that the Government has been modelling its target prices with that of the nearby Catherine Estates development, which has units starting at $6.5 million.
Holness told the Clifton residents that SCJ Holdings Limited, the state entity owning the lands, had subdivided the area they were currently occupying and now has a programme to regularise the community. He said that the agency currently has titles ready for distribution to persons who are part of the original Clifton settlement.
“Having toured the area, I noticed that work has to be done on roads. We will seek to do a few of them, but we can’t do all of them right away. I will be talking to the SCJ to see what we can do to at least get the main road improved,” he said.
The prime minister added that the community, which already has electricity and an irregular water supply, will be connected to the water supply that is already been developed for the area. Likewise, a sewerage system will be connected to the treatment plan now been developed in the area.
He said that the Government has acknowledged Clifton as a legitimate community and will protect the residents’ property rights.
Addressing the illegal occupation of lands on the outskirts of the community, Holness chided those who sought to occupy the land illegally.
“I will tell you this and I am sharing from my heart, I am a builder. I don’t like to lick down people building. All I have been telling people to do is build, but we cannot build illegally,” the prime minister stressed. “For persons looking on, they might say give them a break, but if we continued doing that, it will break down law and order.”
He said that the SCJ was now in the process of verifying boundaries, noting that after the survey, there will have to be the adjustments to boundaries where roads will have to be put in and some houses will have to be relocated.
According to Holness, the demolition process was suspended on Thursday to allow for persons who are not on the list for titles to work out their status with the SCJ,
He expressed fears that news reports alluding to criminal elements selling lands in Clifton would have caused the community to be stigmatised, adding that the residents were hard-working.
“I want the public to know that this is not the case. This community started with sugar workers, who occupied the lands and would have some rights to the land,” he said on Friday.
In a statement to Parliament on Wednesday, Holness said that criminals were behind the unplanned development located close to Clifton.
“We will not allow criminal gangs to create communities in this country,” he said as he informed his fellow parliamentarians of the planned demolition exercise for Thursday.
“It is the first time that an illegal settlement, sponsored by a criminal gang, will be treated with. I want this to be an example and a warning and a caution to Jamaicans,” he told the House.
Yesterday, he said that the unfinished houses near Clifton were demolished because they were on agricultural lands.
Those in the right location with a decking or roof will be allowed to remain if persons can show proof of possession and work out an arrangement with the SCJ, he added. They would, however, have to pay some money to finalise ownership of the lands they now occupy.
Yesterday, the opposition People’s National Party chided the Government for the demolition exercise, expressing concern over the manner in which the Government handled the issue.
“This incident highlights the challenge that many Jamaicans have in land ownership, not because they want to break the laws, but simply their quest to become landowners,” said Senator Sophia Frazer-Binns, the opposition spokesperson on land, calling on the Government to make it easier for Jamaicans to own properties legitimately.