THE URBAN Development Corporation (UDC) has awarded a contract valued at $4.9 million to upgrade the infrastructure in the Johnson Hill subdivision of Hellshire, St. Catherine.
The project will involve the construction of approximately 480 metres of sewer pipeline and associated manholes along sections of Plateau Road, Sun Drive and Horizon Avenue and connection to the existing system. This will complement the 307 metres laid during phase one of the project. On completion in March 2004, the new pipeline is intended to facilitate developments in Johnson Hill, particularly the primary school.
Johnson Hill is one of eight residential subdivisions provided by the UDC, which allowed for individual development as part of the overall plan for the Hellshire Hills, Seafort, Upperfort, Edgehill, St. Georges, St. Georges Cliff, Sandhills and Sandhills Bay, are the other subdivisions. Private and public sector developers in partnership with the UDC also contributed to the housing stock through the Hellshire Heights, Hellshire Park Estate, phases I and II, Canon Ridge and Cave Hill Estate developments.
Other plans for the further development of the Hellshire area include a residential development for Johnson Hill, construction of a lift station to complete the Seafort sewer infrastructure, rehabilitation of the Two Sisters Cave and the development of the Sand Hills Bay Beach Park.
The master plan for Hellshire envisaged accommodating the population overspill from Kingston, preventing agricultural land from being used for urban purposes and providing public recreational area for the Kingston Metropolitan Region. Long considered a significant environmental area, the development of Hellshire Hills has been guided by this consideration, the UDC said in a statement.
