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Utility companies could help to lower housing cost – Kerr-Jarrett

Published:Monday | October 28, 2019 | 12:22 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WIHCON partnered with the Jamaica Public Service in the launch of a smart house, which was officially opened in January 2018 at the model unit of The Meadows development in Montego Bay.
WIHCON partnered with the Jamaica Public Service in the launch of a smart house, which was officially opened in January 2018 at the model unit of The Meadows development in Montego Bay.

WESTERN BUREAU

Mark Kerr-Jarrett, managing director of Barnett Limited, says if low-income housing solutions are to become affordable, the country’s utility companies must pay developers to have their infrastructures built out in housing schemes.

According to Kerr-Jarrett, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), which is largely owned by foreign investors, and the National Water Commission (NWC), which is state-owned, are making money freely on the backs of developers and homeowners in building out their respective networks.

“NWC and JPS must pay the developer the cost to put in their infrastructures because those items are cash flow items for those companies,” he said while addressing the business of real estate and the opportunity for low to middle-income housing solutions at a function hosted by the Jamaica Trade and Investment (JAMPRO) in Montego Bay on Thursday.

“Why should we, the developer and purchaser, provide JPS and NWC with the capital to create cash flow for themselves? ... that is totally unfair,” added Kerr-Jarrett.

He believes that if the utility companies are made to pay for their infrastructures and networking in housing development, the final delivery cost for a house will be much lower, enabling more low-income earners to become homeowners.

The Montego Bay businessman also believes that if developers can deliver a low-income house at a certain dollar threshold, the Government should write off the general consumption tax on all of the building material. That would immediately remove 16.5 per cent off the cost to purchase the house, he said.

DEVELOPMENT ROAD

Kerr-Jarrett, who is also a quantity surveyor, says that in order to positively respond to the very high demand for low-income housing solutions in St James, the Government should look at building a development road from Montego Bay into Trelawny via Adelphi.

“One of the proposals we have made is to set up the Queen of Spain Valley with a development road that goes all the way to Adelphi, Wakefield, Deeside and out at the Martha Brae intersection. You get about 20,000 to 30,000 homes in there,” said Kerr-Jarrett.

The businessman said the development road could also help to provide good transport networks. The JPS Bogue, St James to Duncan, Trelawny power line passes through the Queen of Spain Valley, which also has a rich source of domestic water as the artesian basin, which use to supply Montego Bay, is located there.