RESIDENTS of housing development of Longville Park in Clarendon, are set to benefit from the construction of a 50-man police station in their community.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said the National Housing Trust (NHT) has provided $50 million for the construction of the station by December 2013. The station will initially house 25 police personnel, but will be built to accommodate 50 and will be located in Phase II of the housing scheme.

Simpson Miller, who was addressing the handing-over ceremony of Longville Park Phase III on Thursday, said the NHT is committed to "planned development and creating fully functional integrated communities across the country", hence its investment in a police station for Longville Park. "To service the greater Longville Park development, the NHT has invested significant sums in infrastructure, which serves not only Longville but the surrounding communities," she said.

According to Simpson Miller, the agency has spent $580 million to provide a water supply system for the greater Longville area from a well located at New Bowens. The well has the capacity to bring approximately 13,640 cubic metres of water per day over a distance of 16 kilometres to Longville.

The prime minister said, too, that the NHT spent another $90 million to construct a bridge on the Salt River Road to allow unimpeded access to Longville and areas of south-east Clarendon when the gully is flooded.

She announced that as part of construction plans for Phase IV of the site's development, the NHT will be building an alternative access road to Longville Park from Salt River.

Longville Park is the largest NHT scheme in Clarendon and the NHT has built all three of the six-phase development, providing 3,200 houses. The development will have more than 5,300 houses when all six phases are completed.

NHT Chairman Easton Douglas said the scheme has reserved lots for the construction of churches, a school, commercial areas, and other future developments.

Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing Morais Guy, in congratulating the 882 beneficiaries of Longville Park Phase III, noted that the provision of housing ranked high on the agenda of the Government.

He stated that one of the imperatives of his ministry is a thrust to drive the cost of housing down to the point where people at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder will be able to buy a house and comfortably service a mortgage.