AN initiative by the Government to relocate people whose houses are situated on gully banks, and who are often affected by adverse weather events, is to be piloted in four communities across the Corporate Area.

The disclosure was made by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Wednesday, during his address at the official opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the K2 housing development in downtown Kingston.

Although the timeline of the pilot’s execution was not disclosed, Holness said the project will facilitate the construction of new abodes for people who will be relocated, or the provision of grants for them to source other spaces to call home.

One of the communities of concern mentioned by Holness was the flood-prone Burger Gully, situated in the Kingston Eastern constituency.

“We will be selecting maybe four communities across the Corporate Area to start the pilot project to have persons who are living on the gully banks, particularly those that are at risk of an epiphenomenal weather event, to help them to move from the gully banks. We cannot continue this unsafe practice… that must come to an end,” Holness said.

Member of Parliament for Kingston Eastern and Port Royal Phillip Paulwell, who was also at the function, had disclosed in August that close to 150 residents of Burger Gully had signalled their willingness to relocate.

The flooding of the gully, an informal settlement also called 17 1/2 Mountain View Avenue, has been an ongoing problem, but worsened last year as sections of the gully which runs through the community were damaged by flood waters.

At that time, Paulwell said lands were identified in the communities of Mountain View and Rockfort to facilitate the relocation exercise, but a response was being awaited from minister with responsibility for works Robert Morgan.

Holness maintained Wednesday that the issue of communities which are currently irregularly settled “must come to an end”, but underscored that “the success of any government policy is dependent upon the government’s ability… to do what it says it’s going to do”.

“In my own constituency I have demonstrated to the people there how the Government can effectively do a relocation. In the best circumstances, relocation is always disruptive. In the best circumstances, persons are going to feel traumatised by relocation. No one wants to have their house uprooted, their furniture taken and destroyed. Nobody wants to have to move from where they have made their life,” said Holness, who is Member of Parliament for St Andrew West Central.

According to Holness, the National Works Agency will also test a programme that will reclaim the reservations [of buildings] 20 feet away from the gullies in Kingston.

“Whenever I speak like this, immediately everybody starts to get worried [that,] ‘Boy, the Government going to come throw me off [my land].’ That’s not what the Government wants to do. The Government has a right in law to, for the public good, have persons relocate. But the relocation must be done in such a way that the people who are relocated are made no worse off,” Holness said.

The K2 development, located in Bournemouth Gardens, Kingston 2, is a 10-storey residence featuring 119 units. It was developed by Sherbourne Limited, led by Michael and Richard Lake.