Serviced Lots Handed Over to Monymusk Workers

More than 50 serviced lots were handed over yesterday (March 4) to employees of the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ), Monymusk Division, by the National Housing Trust (NHT).

The lots are part of a total of 588 lots and one studio unit (demonstration), which have been allocated to the employees. About 38 lots were also handed over to the employees some time ago. Speaking at the handing over ceremony, which took place at Monymusk in Clarendon, Earl Samuels, Managing Director of the NHT said that the lots were being made available at a cost of $395,000, and the studio units could be built by the NHT on request at a cost of $850,000.

Mr. Samuels pointed out that the overall construction cost for the project was $297 million, and included fully developed serviced lots with a central sewerage system and potable water mains.

The Managing Director explained that the allotment to the Monymusk workers was part of an initiative to deliver approximately 5,000 housing solutions for sugar workers across the island over a five-year period.

Minister of Transport and Works, Robert Pickersgill who represented Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, said that the Sugar Workers Housing Programme was an innovative concept, created specifically to reverse the historical situation in which workers were unable to own land.

“You the workers of Monymusk who are participating in this historic ceremony can now own a little piece of this beautiful land of ours. The letter you are receiving today, stands as a testimony to your years of hard work. So long as you keep your end of the bargain by paying your mortgage, one day each one of you will be able to stand up on your own square of land, proud in the knowledge that you owe nothing to anyone,” he said.

Two other handing over ceremonies have been held at Rowington Park in Clarendon, where 78 lots and one shell unit were allocated to the workers; and at Bellrock in St. Thomas, where the workers received 19 lots and one shell unit.