PRIME Minister Andrew Holness last Friday broke ground for the construction of a 1,500-unit housing scheme to be known as The Estuary in Friendship, St James.

The activity was one of six he revealed in discussions with Jamaica Observer board members and senior editorial staff at a meeting hosted by the newspaper’s chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart at its head office, Beechwood Avenue, Kingston, earlier on Friday.

According to the prime minister, the six projects are to be developed through National Housing Trust (NHT) joint ventures and ground will be broken as follows: St Mary’s Field, St Catherine, on Tuesday, February 28; Masemure and Darliston in Westmoreland on Friday, March 10; Estuary, St James and Yeast Plant, Westmoreland, on Friday, March 24.

The Estuary/Friendship project is being undertaken by a partnership between the NHT and West Indies Home Contractors Limited. It is being done at a cost of $7 billion. The units are to be constructed on 254 acres of land and should be completed by December 2019.

He said that the schemes will produce a total of 3,000 housing solutions by the time they are completed.

Holness had informed the House of Representatives during last May’s budget debate that the trust would be partnering with public and private sector entities to develop more than 10,000 housing solutions (houses and serviced lots) over the next four years.

Among the public partners is the Urban Development Corporation, which will develop 700 housing solutions at Caymanas in St Catherine at a cost of over $5 billion with NHT financing.

Holness said that the Caymanas development was being undertaken based on NHT data indicating a “significant demand” for houses in Kingston, St Andrew, and urban St Catherine. He said that these solutions were of varying designs and prices and would be constructed on the property over the four-year period.

Other major projects he has named include: Windsor, Trelawny, where 210 housing solutions will be developed; Colbeck, St Catherine, 595; Orchards, St Catherine, 765; Winchester Estate, Hanover, 1,000; Perth II, Manchester, 1,480; and Friendship, St James, 1,500.

Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Dr Horace Chang, who was at Friday’s meeting at the

Observer, said that the country’s housing needs are in the region of 10,000-15,000 houses per year. However, there was a 30 per cent decline in housing starts in 2014, compared to 2013, when the Housing Agency of Jamaica reduced housing starts from 938 units to just 99, while the NHT had a decline of 8.3 per cent.

“It is clear to us that some new thinking, new initiatives, and new approaches have to be engaged to meet this important need of providing adequate housing for our people,” Dr Chang said.

However, he conceded that the Government does not have the resources to solve the problem, so the strategy of utilising public private partnerships for housing development is necessary.

He said that, while this would not be a new approach, his ministry would be revamping the process to ensure greater efficiency and creativity.