THE MINISTRY of Water and Housing has signed two agreements with West Indies Home Contractors Limited (WIHCON), for the development of 493 housing units in St. Catherine.
This development, aimed at providing houses for low and middle income earners, will be undertaken at Eltham Vista, off Brunswick Avenue.
Minister of Water and Housing, Donald Buchanan, signed the agreements at the Ministry in New Kingston last week Thursday.
One agreement is for the sale of 24 hectares (60 acres) of land by the Government to WIHCON for $21.3 million, to facilitate construction of the housing scheme.
In addition, the Minister and WIHCON signed a facilitation agreement, whereby, through the Housing Act of 1968, the Government would offer administrative/bureaucratic support to expedite the development process.
Minister Buchanan said the National Housing Trust (NHT) would provide mortgage financing for the units being built.
The housing scheme would consist of 432 studio apartments, to be sold at $1.235 million each. There will be 61 two bedroom units, each costing $2.6 million.
In his address, Peter Matalon, Director of WIHCON said the company was pleased to be associated with the effort to provide housing solutions for Jamaicans, noting that there was a slight shift in focus to studio units over the past 10 years.
Mr. Buchanan noted that the Ministry of Housing, in collaboration with other agencies, including WIHCON, had provided more than 116,000 housing solutions in the 1990s.
One major contributor to this significant figure, the Minister noted, was the development of the Greater Portmore housing scheme, with over 10,000 units. In addition, he cited the construction of houses in Portmore Pines, St. Catherine and Manley Meadows, Kingston in 1997, with 846 and 1,068 houses, respectively. Also, between 1990 and 2000, some 632 houses were constructed in Christian Gardens, St. Catherine (Phases one and two); and 630 units at Angel Grove in St. Catherine between 2001 and 2002, Mr. Buchanan noted.
"By the fall of 2004, 493 more Jamaican families are to benefit from this new housing solution project," the Minister said.
Others in attendance were, the Minister of State in the Ministry, Harry Douglas; and Errol Powell, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the ICD Group Limited, the parent company for WIHCON.
