PM Hands Over 110 Housing Units In St Catherine
By: , December 3, 2021
Photo: Adrian Walker
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (second left), and Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal and Climate Change, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., plant trees at the newly opened Twickenham Glades housing development in St. Catherine, during a handover ceremony on Wednesday (December 1). Looking on are Twickenham Glades homeowner Dwight Bailey (centre); Board member of the National Housing Trust (NHT), which undertook the development, Nesta-Claire Hunter (second right), who represented Board Chairman, Lennox Channer; and Member of Parliament for St. Catherine Eastern, where the development is located, Denise Daley.
Photo: Adrian Walker
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (centre), officially opens the Twickenham Glades housing development in St. Catherine, during a handover ceremony on Wednesday (December 1). Also participating (from left) are Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal and Climate Change, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr.; Board member of the National Housing Trust (NHT), which undertook the development, Nesta-Claire Hunter, who represented Board Chairman, Lennox Channer; Twickenham Glades homeowner, Dwight Bailey; and Member of Parliament for St. Catherine Eastern, where the development is located, Denise Daley. Photo: Adrian WalkerThe Full Story
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says nearly 22,000 new housing solutions are guaranteed to be provided over the next two to three years by the National Housing Trust (NHT).
He noted that the entity currently has 12,019 units under construction, costing upwards of $100 billon.
Additionally, the Prime Minister said the NHT has another 9,641 units in the planning stage, which are projected to cost some $95 billion.
“So what you [will] have is a flow. So when that 12,019 now under construction [are complete], you will have a replacement from those moving out of planning… and that’s in the pipeline,” Mr. Holness said.
He was speaking during the handover ceremony for 110 single-storey two-bedroom duplex units, which were developed by the NHT at Twickenham Glades, St. Catherine, on Wednesday (December 1).
Mr. Holness said the 12,019 solutions represent the most the NHT has ever had under construction for any single period, He noted that more than 95 per cent of these will be affordable to low-income earners.
While acknowledging that the nearly 22,000 programmed developments are not enough to meet the housing demand, he maintained that “[they are] going to take us a far way to the solution”.
Mr. Holness, who has portfolio responsibility for the Trust, commended the entity for fulfilling its mandate to build houses for Jamaicans, adding that, “when it comes to driving economic growth through housing, the expenditure of the NHT is significant”.
Twickenham Glades was developed on five hectares (12.21 acres) of land located along the westbound side of Mandela Highway in Twickenham Park.