A commute from New Kingston to the foot of Red Hills — usually a 20-minute drive with no traffic, or 40-60 minutes in peak hours — took one motorist three hours last Friday evening while another motorist reported moving only five car lengths in an hour on Eastwood Park Road shortly after 5:00 pm.

This was the reality which faced many commuters in a gridlock across sections of the Corporate Area from shortly after 4:00 pm to sometime after 7:00 pm.

Several factors have been blamed for the traffic snarl, including the rains which lashed much of the capital city Friday afternoon, construction work in some areas, and the many potholes which dot the streets.

But Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has put the blame somewhere else.

“The recent traffic gridlock that we experienced is…a symptom of not just poorly planned infrastructure, but aged infrastructure — an infrastructure that simply cannot meet the demands in place,” said Holness as he addressed the National Housing Trust (NHT) 50th anniversary thanksgiving service at Webster Memorial United Church in St Andrew on Sunday.

According to Holness, that is why under his Administration the NHT is shifting its focus towards large-scale, master plan developments.

“Not small, fragmented interventions but coordinated, large-scale solutions. Not just housing units, but communities. Not just small developments, individualised and incremental, but planning at scale, coordinated and integrated.

”We must build with resilience in mind. That means stronger building standards. It means better land use planning. It means relocating development away from high-risk zones, and it means ensuring that every new home built today can withstand the realities of tomorrow,“ added Holness.

He pointed out that the Government has made a commitment for 70,000 new houses with the NHT at the forefront of that push.

”The NHT has an obligation to deliver 41,000 of those. Once those are delivered, then we are going to pivot and we are going to start focusing on infilling the existing communities that have been built 50 years ago. They need repair. The sewage plants are not working. The roads are in potholes. Many of those houses, we may have to knock them down and put up new structures there,” said Holness.

He pointed out that the NHT will invest approximately $50 billion in housing development, alongside an additional $21 billion in subsidies to support affordability in the coming financial year.

Holness reiterated his position that Jamaica’s housing challenge is a matter of supply and not necessarily just access to finance for homebuyers.

“Increasing loan limits without increasing supply only drives up prices. The real constraint has been land, infrastructure, approvals, and construction capacity. The next major development in this regard, the Greater Inswood Development, will be led by the NHT as a model of integrated planning and execution. This is the direction in which Jamaica must go,” declared Holness.