A MEETING yesterday between the management of the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) and representatives of the St. Thomas Parish Council, has cleared the way for work to resume on the controversial housing development at Duckensfied in the parish, according to Ambassador Derrick Heaven, chief executive officer of the SCJ.
The Parish Council had placed a stop order on the development, claiming that the eight-acre property on which 75 one and two bedroom units were to be constructed by Food for the Poor, was located in a flood prone area. It also complained that the SCJ had failed to submit the relevant building plans for the development.
Secretary Manager of the Parish Council, Clinton Gordon, had said there were "obvious environmental anomalies" which would have to be rectified prior to approval.
Yesterday's meeting, according to Ambassador Heaven, had cleared the way for the work to resume. "Representatives of the Sugar Company and the Parish Council met and worked out an amicable way of going forward," he told The Gleaner.
He denied that the site was flood prone. "That part is not true. That's not true," he said. He admitted, however, that the work had started without an application being made to the Parish Council.
Nearly two hundred people, including current and retired sugar workers and their children are to benefit from the development. They are being relocated from an area called 'Barracks,' which is said to be in a dilapidated state.
"These people have been living in absolute squalor and degradation for many years. Their situation requires absolute immediate attention. All we are attempting to do is to bring some dignity to these people's lives," Ambassador Heaven emphasised.
