WESTERN BUREAU – The more than 450 former employees at the state-owned Hampden Estate in Trelawny whose positions were made redundant in August, on Wednesday received roughly $80 million in redundancy payments from the Sugar Company of Jamaica.

The displaced workers had, at the end of August, received $22 million in lieu of notice and were promised their redundancy payment by year-end.

Late Wednesday, chief executive officer at the SCJ, Livingstone Morrison, told the Observer that the payments were made as scheduled and that the former employees appeared to be happy about receiving their money.

Patrick Scott, a field worker with more than 20 years service at the estate, was one of those who received payment on Wednesday.

Although he did not disclose how much he got, he expressed satisfaction at the sum and spoke briefly of his plans for it.

“Mi plan fi start a little business (grocery shop) in mi district, rear some chickens and put a little in the bank,” he told the Observer.

Early last year, the SCJ made 200 Hampden workers redundant and paid out more than $47 million to them, following the government’s closure of the sugar processing plant in December of 2002.

On Wednesday, Morrison said that the multimillion dollar development that began at the estate in mid-September was progressing satisfactorily.

“We are very pleased with the work that we have done so far… Things are really going fine,” he told the Observer.

The development plan, which requires a capital injection of $212 million in the first two years of implementation and a further $158 million in the third year, includes:

. refurbishing and modernisation of the distillery;

. cultivation of 200 hectares of crops other than sugar cane;

. the development of the estate as a tourist attraction; and

. the planting of 1,300 hectares of sugar cane.

Morrison noted Wednesday that the planting of sugar cane was on target, while the planting of crops other than sugar cane would commence later this month. Work on the other areas of the development plan is also expected to begin soon, he added.