News

The housing stock of Portmore will be increased with the protracted inclusion of 125 detached two-bedroom units in a new development called Westmeade Willows (Westmeade Phase Two) on 12.2 hectares of land across from the communities of Garveymeade and Southborough.

Ground was broken for the project on Thursday at the development site.

Prospective buyers will have to fork out approximately $8 million per unit, in a project that will cost more than $663 million.

Dr Horace Chang, the minister of water and housing, said his ministry was determined to lower the cost of housing.

"Every effort is being made to ensure that over the next four to five years, we can again generate a housing sector that will provide enough houses for workers in this country and build the kind of communities that we can all be proud of," he said.

Soon to start

Construction of the Westmeade project, which should last 18 months, is slated to start within two weeks.

Y.P. Seaton is the lead contractor.

Meanwhile, Portmore Mayor Keith Hinds lauded the efforts of the housing ministry for bringing more residential options to Portmore, a St Catherine community with a population of about 300,000.

The Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), the implementing driver of the Westmeade scheme, plans to provide more than 10,000 housing solutions to the public by 2013.

The HAJ now has three housing projects under construction in Portmore. The others are Palms of Portmore and Portmore Villas 2. The three projects will provide well over 400 new housing solutions in the municipality.

- Anthony Minott