More Residential Service Lots For St. Catherine

The Morris Park Estate in St. Catherine is to benefit from another housing development under the Ministry of Water and Housing’s Joint Venture Programme through construction partners N.F. Barnes Construction and Equipment Company Limited.
To date, two of four contracts, which were signed earlier this financial year, are well under way, while the third, which was signed today (Feb. 26), is set for completion in August 2005. The developments will provide a total of 1,291 housing solutions for the area.
The venture will see 29.75 hectares of land being developed into 397 residential service lots with an average size of 331 square metres each. The development will have roadways of 12.20 and 10 metre wide reservation with asphaltic concrete surface finish and kerb and channel drainage systems in some sections.
It will further be serviced by a potable water supply from a deep well located on the project land, a central sewage collection system with treatment facility located in the south eastern section of the project land, and a Jamaica Public Service electrical distribution system. In addition provision will be made in open areas for community use and commercial space.
Speaking at the signing this morning (Feb. 26), at the Ministry on St. Lucia Avenue in Kingston, Minister of Water and Housing, Donald Buchanan said the development was in response to the urgent demand for affordable housing identified among persons in the lower and lower middle income categories in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA) and the parish of St. Catherine.
He pointed out that recent surveys carried out by the National Housing Trust (NHT), in St. Catherine, estimated the housing market at 15,049 with an effective demand of 5,306 persons.
Minister Buchanan said the “proposed development at Morris Park Estate would primarily be targeting persons in the housing market who are NHT contributors. earning between $1800 and $9000 per week.” Additionally, the estate is strategically placed and will benefit from both the existing transportation route to Kingston, Spanish Town and the general Portmore area as well as the commercial infrastructure.
Since its inception in 1994, the programme has seen the provision of over some 3,700 housing solutions worth $4.3 billion and through projects currently under construction will provide an additional 5,725 solutions valued at $6.9 billion before the end of the financial year 2004/2005.
Minister Buchanan further indicated that there were an additional 11 projects being negotiated for joint ventures in the immediate future.
He said the ministry was anticipating executing six projects currently in their intermediary stages in the third and fourth quarter of 2004/2005, for 1,618 solutions.
The Housing Minister emphasized the Ministry’s commitment to effectively maintain and manage the programme, stating that its expansion was critical and noting that the collaborations would further provide “affordable housing for a greater number of Jamaicans.”