BY BALFORD HENRY

Observer senior staff reporter

balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com

GOVERNMENT is pumping more tax dollars into improving structural conditions in the South West St Andrew constituency of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who has long been accused of ignoring the living conditions of the poor in the inner-city areas there.

On Tuesday, minister without portfolio for transport, works and housing, Dr Morais Guy, announced the completion of two of the latest developments in the constituency — the construction of 48 apartments in Majesty Pen,

and allocation of some $42 million from the PetroCaribe Fund being spent in removing zinc fences

from parts of the constituency, including Payne Avenue (Payne Land/Tavares Gardens).

Some $160 million have been spent on completing the housing apartments, which were left partially built when Simpson Miller demitted office in 2007. The prime minister has since indicated that with the completion of the units a second phase of the project is to be started, likely when she resumes the Inner City Housing Programme financed by the National Housing Trust (NHT) in 2014.

The zinc fence removal project has already replaced seven zinc fences in Payne Avenue, and is currently removing 16 more on Uganda and Lagos Avenues in the same constituency. There are also plans to extend the programme to include more areas of the constituency, including Haile Selassie Avenue, 263 Spanish Town Road and Maxfield Avenue.

Dr Guy told the House of Representatives that “the 48 families (in Majesty Gardens) are set to get the keys to their new homes in short order”.

He also explained that the Government has made available $42 million through the Petro Caribe Fund, under JEEP, for the zinc fence removal project. The general scope of works entails removing the existing zinc fences and replacing them with concrete block walls, 1.8 metres high, that are reinforced with steel. Priority has been given to areas where the need is most manifest at this time.

Guy lamented that zinc fencing had become a feature of many inner-city communities, “which isn’t commensurate with the pride that ought to be afforded to our citizens wherever they live”.

“We have moved full speed ahead in continuing the push to eliminate this feature, from sections of some communities, particularly those in the Corporate Area,” he said, noting that the programme will also spend $3.5 million on strengthening the perimeter wall around the Trench Town Comprehensive High School in South St Andrew, building a concrete block around the Success Basic School in Central Kingston and removing some more zinc fences in Bedward Gardens, August Town.

The newly completed apartments in Majesty Garden bring to a total of close to 500 housing units completed in South West St Andrew since the Inner City Housing Project was implemented by the National Housing Trust (NHT) in 2003, as part of the Government’s larger Urban Renewal Programme.

The project involved the construction of 3,000 housing units, the refurbishing of older government housing schemes in the Kingston Metropolitan Area and the construction of a community centre and play areas within the inner-city schemes. It was suspended by the previous government following complaints from the NHT that it was expanding beyond its capacity to maintain it. However, Simpson Miller says that the programme will be resumed in 2014.The prime minister has pointed out that the programme involves more than the building of houses, noting that the Government will work with the beneficiaries to improve their lives.

“We have programmes with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and a number of other organisations working with the people to ensure that training is also a component, so that those who do not have the money or who are not employed, will be able to get jobs,” Simpson Miller said.