The political squabble surrounding the planned development on the Bernard Lodge lands in St Catherine continued to escalate yesterday with the Government’s point man Daryl Vaz charging that the Opposition was being mischievous, disingenuous and giving the public misinformation.

On Friday the People’s National Party (PNP) stepped up its criticisms of the project with its spokesman on agriculture and rural development, Victor Wright, alleging that more than $1 billion of irrigation infrastructure on the best contiguous land most suited for farming would be destroyed under the Government’s plan.

Wright also alleged that small farmers on the property are being prevented from resuming production to honour their existing contracts and called on the Government to immediately halt the sale and/or lease of lands previously used as sugar lands in Bernard Lodge, St Catherine.

But in a fiery response yesterday, Vaz told the Jamaica Observer that the PNP was well aware that no farmer was being unfairly dislocated and that the irrigation infrastructure which Wright spoke about had been put in place in 1985 and had outlived its useful life, which would be 25 to 30 years.

Vaz also charged that the PNP, while it formed the Government, had approved three large housing developments in the area at a time when the Water Resources Authority (WRA) had designated it a “no-build zone”.

“With the developments overtime, including what has happened to the aquifer, plus the illegal dumping and sand mining that was taking place there, the WRA has now designated it a ‘care-build zone’ with all the necessary safe guards, so it’s clear hypocrisy for the PNP to raise that issue,” said Vaz.

He said claims that small farmers were being unfairly displaced were “absolutely not true” and called it political mischief by the PNP.

“There is currently 1,700 acres of land that has been leased for agricultural purposes in the Bernard Lodge area and of that, an assessment done by the land owners SCJ [Sugar Company of Jamaica] Holdings, is that less than 25 per cent of it is being used for agricultural purposes.

“So when they speak about displacing farmers and interrupting farming operations the data does not lie,” declared Vaz.

The minister without portfolio added that in the areas where farming is taking place, the Government is committed to ensuring that there is no dislocation or disruption of the activities of the farmers as the aim is to bolster their economic prospects.

“All the persons who are currently on the land — informal settlers, lessees, or persons who are in breach of their lease arrangements — will be treated equally and will be compensated fairly. They will be relocated and they will be relocated to sites that are of a similar soil type as the rest of the development area.

“The main relocation site will be served by clean irrigation water brought from the Rio Cobre canal system. The new irrigation infrastructure to support the main relocation site for the small farmers is estimated to cost some $300 million and that will be provided for them,” declared Vaz as he scoffed at Wright’s claim that farmers were being prevented from reaping their crops and honouring their contracts.

According to Vaz, the allegations that the land is being sold or leased in a manner that is not transparent, is more mischief-making.

He said the projects already approved by the Cabinet were legacy issues which carried over and which the PNP was well aware of.

“The PNP knows that all future sales of the lands in the area included under the master plan will be by way of a public competitive process to be managed by the Development Bank of Jamaica,” said Vaz.

He said the review of the master plan for the development, which Prime Minister Andrew Holness had ordered based on public concerns, should be before the Cabinet for its approval in weeks and the changes will be shared with the public.