By Garfield L. Angus
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – Minister of local government and rural development, Desmond McKenzie, says the government is intensifying efforts to deliver 100 indigent houses during the 2021/2022 financial year.
He said the programme will commence in West Central St Andrew, then it will move to South West St Andrew, Central Kingston, West Kingston, and other constituencies across the island, as well as the parish of St Mary, where a “significant” number of the houses will be built.
The minister was speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of housing units in Belrock, St Andrew, recently, said the houses are equipped with two-thousand-gallon black tanks to ensure rainwater harvesting for the homeowners.
Minister McKenzie told his audience that since the indigent housing programme started in 2016, 65 have been built, and the government took a position to discontinue building board structures so that beneficiaries can have concrete structures that “are lasting.”
McKenzie said councillors across the island will be able to assist persons with repairs to their houses from a $60 million budget.
There will also be a “Paint the City” initiative which will commence in a few weeks, the Minister said. A number of town centres will be beautified, to “bring life” to them, under this programme.
Minister McKenzie also addressed the vaccination programme for the homeless population, which started in the Corporate Area, “that programme will continue across Jamaica, over the next couple of weeks,” he told the ceremony.
