PM says no to ‘chakka chakka’ development

WESTERN BUREAU:

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that in order for Jamaica to progress and improve as a nation, chaotic land and community developments, such as what pertains in some sections of Montego Bay, St James must undergo change and dislocation.

“You have a beautiful city, but the beauty is just in some areas, because in other areas development has just happened, but there’s no planning, and it’s chaotic. As we progress as a nation, the ‘chakka chakka’ business can’t continue,” said Holness, who was speaking at Wednesday’s official groundbreaking for a new Western Children and Adolescent Hospital in Montego Bay.

In speaking of the need to change from disorderly developments to orderly developments, Holness said changes will have to be made, which could lead to some amount of dislocation.

“Change will mean dislocation, so some people will have to give up some things they have in order for every body to benefit. But change must mean equity as well, meaning that if you have to give up something, we have to find some way to ensure that you are not at a loss,” said the prime minister.

“One man go and puts up his shingle, another man puts up his sheet of zinc, then a next one comes and puts up his plyboard and then a concrete structure, but there’s no road, no water, no sewage, no telecommunications, no provisions for security, health or education, and we just live. Then you wake up, bounce into your neighbour, start a fight, draw a knife, your neighbour’s son is dead, and then there’s a feud for the next 20 years,” stated Holness, in pointing out some of the dangers of unplanned developments.

“Some of us leave those areas and go into the formal areas, and we say, ‘I wish those people would just disappear.’ But we’re one Jamaica in one boat, and this boat is not going to capsize and sink, so there must be an intervention in these circumstances. The provision of health service, security and education must improve, and it will mean change,” stated Holness.

Last February, the Housing Agency of Jamaica estimated that over 20,000 residents of St James lived in informal settlements.