MONTEGO BAY, St James — Mayor of Montego Bay Councillor Richard Vernon has indicated that the St James Municipal Corporation will be putting in the infrastructure needed on lands it owns in Bogue as part of a push to sell property it has been trying to offload for years.

He anticipates that the sale will bring in $1 billion to the local authority’s coffers.

The land is occupied by mainly commercial operators who have been labelled as squatters by successive administrations.

Responding to questions from the media on Thursday, the mayor said the the corporation is actively working on a solution.

“We are now at a place where we have to conduct infrastructural installation to get the subdivision orders through. To do that we are now in the process of getting the funding needed to put in the necessary infrastructure,” he explained.

“These days we have to go through the Public Appraisal Investment Branch (PIAB), the board that deals with government investments and we have started the application process for that,” he added.

Vernon said he anticipates that once the consolidated fund is tapped for the money, everything else will fall into place. However, he stressed that he was unable to provide a timeline.

“Once we have installed the infrastructure and completed the subdivision process, complete the certificate of compliance as well, then we will be going back to the lawyers for them to continue the sale of properties,” he said.

The lands in question were approved by Cabinet for sale in 2003. A valuation exercise was done at the time to ascertain the prices at which the lands would be divested.

Divestment has been delayed by a raft of issues including haggling over the value of the land.

Vernon anticipates that the 26 lots will soon be in the hands of new owners.

“We are in dialogue, our lawyer to their lawyer and the key requirement of the sale now is to put in the infrastructure, complete the subdivision process, get the certificate of compliance, and complete the sale,” he said.

He noted that the proceeds from the sale will be used to finance further developments.

“There is a possibility that $1 billion can be collected from sales of properties in that section. It will offset several of our development ambitions here in Montego Bay,” he revealed.

These include multi-storey car parks and a shoe market to replace the one affected by fire last year.