Belle Air and Mount Edgecombe get $1-billion upgrade
Published:Friday | February 27, 2015 | 1:22 PMDaraine Luton
Dr Dayton Campbell, the member of parliament for North West St Ann, has welcomed a $1 billion allocation in the Estimates of Expenditure, which he said will go a far way in improving the lives of residents in Belle Air and Mount Edgecombe.
Some 100 two-bed room units are to be constructed in Belle Air at a cost of $550 million, and an additional $472.5 million earmarked for the upgrading of infrastructure in both Belle Air and Mount Edgecombe in the new fiscal year.
The projects are being funded jointly by the Government of Jamaica and the China EXIM Bank under the Jamaica Economic Housing project, which is aimed at upgrading the infrastructure in St Ann and St Elizabeth. A notation in the Budget also said the project seeks to provide affordable housing solutions in St Elizabeth and to alleviate the deficit of housing solutions in St Ann by providing a mixture of affordable housing solutions, primarily for employees in the tourism industry.
Basic utilities
Campbell said that the infrastructure works will involve the provision of water, electricity and upgraded roads for Belle Air III and Mount Edgecombe.
"The electricity will be put in place for a section called Crocodile City and also Mount Edgecombe IV," the MP said.
"It is a project that the community has been waiting on for a long time, and we are relieved to finally be seeing the light of the tunnel so that these residents will have especially potable water. They have blocked the roads several times for this, and we have advocated long and hard, so it is good to see it coming to fruition.
Up to January 2015, the Government said there was the upgrading of infrastructure of 1320 solutions in Belle Air I and II, and Mount Edgecombe IV, as well as the completion of 130 service lots in Belle Aire III; the completion of 36 service lots at Luana Gardens in St Elizabeth; and the completion of 70 studio units, also at Luana.
The Government has budgeted $77.5 million this year to continue and complete infrastructure works at Luana Gardens, which falls in the constituency of South West St Elizabeth, represented by Hugh Buchanan.