700 Housing Solutions Slated for Greater Bernard Housing Development

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, on Friday (September 11) broke ground for the Greater Bernard Lodge Housing Development in St. Catherine, which will deliver 700 housing solutions to Jamaicans.

It is being developed on 90.38 acres of land under the National Housing Trust’s (NHT) Developers Programme.

Under this initiative, the NHT, in partnership with the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), has engaged M&M Jamaica Limited to construct the housing solutions and will comprise 280 detached one-bedroom units and 420 two-bedroom units.

The development lands (Blocks D2 and D3) are part of the Government’s wider initiative for the development of the Greater Bernard Lodge Development Project.

In his remarks, Dr. Holness said the project represents an investment of $11.62 billion and is another step in providing housing opportunities for Jamaicans.

“These houses…must be affordable houses,” he said.

Dr. Holness stated that the Government remains committed to delivering 70,000 new homes in Jamaica.

“The NHT was tasked to build 42,000 of that and by my last check, they have seen their way… in terms of what they have already constructed, what is in contracts, what is in procurement, and what is planning, they are over 40,000. So, they have seen the slate of what they should construct,” he stated.

“Already since the start of this financial year, we have broken ground for 2,000. I know we have already passed 8,000 under construction or out of construction. So, we are adding another 2,000 now through the groundbreaking. That is a significant number,” he added.

The Prime Minister also informed that as part of the Bernard Lodge Development, there are several lots of land that will be developed by different developers.

“So, you will have multiple housing schemes bringing housing solutions to the market with common infrastructure…The Bernard Lodge Development, has the potential to deliver 15,000 housing solutions to the market, just this development alone. However, only 700 of it will be directly related to the government. The rest of it will all be private development,” he said.

Furthermore, he said the Greater Innswood Development in St. Catherine will also deliver housing solutions for Jamaicans.

“We have now put together the enterprise team. Work has started to get that development going and so the objective is to have possibly another 15,000 units being constructed in the Greater Innswood area,” he said.

Meanwhile Dr. Holness urged the stakeholders in the Greater Bernard Lodge Housing Development to work efficiently to deliver the homes to Jamaicans.

“The genuine facts are that if we do not produce enough housing, people are going to squat. That is the reality. So, the NHT, the HAJ, our private developers, you have a task, to move the developments much more quickly than we are doing,” he reasoned.