UDC to Divest Some Assets

Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, has issued a policy directive to the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), that it should seek to divest assets that it has already developed, and which are no longer strategically important to its role.
The proceeds from such divestments, he said, should be used to finance new developments in other areas.
Mr. Golding was responding to a question posed by Opposition Member of Parliament, Dr. Peter Phillips, at the November 4 sitting of the Lower House, as to the policy guidelines set out for the UDC, in the acquisition of property.
The Prime Minister noted, for example, that the UDC is a major shareholder of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, with “very valuable” equity.
“I have said to the UDC, you don’t need to be a hotel owner. There may be situations in which you may need to build a hotel, but having built it and it having formed part of a development that you have seeded, you dispose of those assets and you move those resources elsewhere to stimulate development. So, it (the UDC) will be in the process of acquiring lands for strategic development and disposing of assets, so that it can discharge the mandate that it has been given,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Mr. Golding said a determination would have to be made by the planners of the Caymanas development, and signed off by the UDC Board, as to how much of what is now agricultural lands, but which sits directly in the middle of the Mandela/Caymanas corridor, will have to be taken out of agriculture, to “allow for the kind of urban development that has to be planned.”
He said that discussions are being held between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Lands on this matter, adding that the UDC has been directed to identify lands in various parts of Jamaica, that are strategic to urban planning, which need to be acquired.
“The UDC’s land bank is being depleted, because the UDC has been developing and disposing of land over the years, without replenishing its land bank. I have instructed them to identify those urban areas where we are beginning to see urban sprawl, that has to be dealt with,” he said.