NHT review for Cabinet today
FRIENDSHIP, St James — Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the institutional review of the National Housing Trust (NHT) is now complete, and will be taken to Cabinet today for deliberations.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony for 150 houses at the Estuary housing development here on Friday, Holness said the findings of the review which he directed the board of the NHT to undertake, has been presented to him.
“That report will be reviewed by the Cabinet at the next Cabinet meeting and we will come to an understanding as to what are the challenges faced by the NHT and what are the proposed solutions. We will form a preliminary position, then we will go to Parliament with the report, and have it debated by the elected representatives. We will have it widely circulated so that all stakeholders can have a say, and then we will take some decisions,” the prime minister explained.
He added that following the completion of that process, both legislative and policy decisions will be taken regarding the restructure of the agency.
He stressed that the outcome will assist in the prevention of unplanned settlements.
The prime minister argued that the only way to prevent someone who decides that he wants a house which the market is not providing, from finding a piece of land and erecting a structure “is when you have your housing market working in such a way that it is providing housing solutions to meet all the demand price points in the market in a timely and efficient manner”.
The Estuary is a joint venture between the NHT and West Indies Home Contractors, which is being developed on roughly 275 acres of land, five kilometres south east of the resort city of Montego Bay.
On completion, the development will comprise of 1,500 one-bedroom detached units, priced at $4.47 million.
The units will be completed in batches of 150 over the next two years. The first batch was completed earlier this month.