PRIME Minister Andrew Holness said yesterday that the Government will debate the future of the National Housing Trust (NHT) in Parliament before the end of the year.

Holness made the announcement at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Maxfield Park Housing Project in St Andrew East Central. According to the prime minister, in its present form, the NHT may need some reforms to meet current needs.

In that regard, he revealed that the commissioned strategic review of the NHT is now complete. He said the Government is eager to debate the report in Parliament.

“I want to make that commitment and make that announcement that we (Government) will debate the report in Parliament and make some decisions thereafter as to what will be the reform of NHT,” said Prime Minister Holness.

A strategic review of the NHT was commissioned in 2017 by Prime Minister Holness with the objective of accessing the operations of the NHT with a view to making improvements.

The prime minister has asked the Opposition to support the debate in Parliament.

“That report has in it many proposals as to how we can reform the NHT so that it can both support the national agenda items such as the economic programmes and also how to expand its true mandate, which is to increase homeownership in Jamaica,” said Holness.

In the meantime, the prime minister said the Government is committed to giving every citizen the opportunity to homeownership.

“It is the most heart-warming experience when somebody realises that they have now the key to their own home, and I want to give that experience to all Jamaicans,” he said.

Addressing the matter of development in the country, the prime minister said: “The Government of Jamaica will not sit by and allow the country to descend into chaos, whether it is chaos into development or chaos in public order or chaos in crime. The Government of Jamaica is taking a proactive, instrumental and deliberate approach to intervene in the development of communities to ensure that the development is orderly, is peaceful, but more importantly, it is equitable and accessible,” he said.

Approximately 210 housing solutions will be built on Ricketts Crescent on over six acres of land in the Maxfield Avenue area. The constituency is represented by Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips.