Prime Minister Andrew Holness has urged persons informally occupying property adjoining the Clifton community in St Catherine to contact SCJ Holdings Limited, which owns the lands, to assist in arriving at a solution.

He was speaking to the occupants during a visit to the area on Friday (October 7).

On Thursday (October 6), a demolition exercise was carried out in the Greater Bernard Lodge Development Area.

The prime minister, in seeking to empathise with the residents, discussed ways in which they can legally occupy the lands.

“I am a builder… I don’t like to lick down things. All I have been telling people to do is build… but we cannot build illegally,” he said.

The prime minister told the residents that they would have opportunities to purchase houses in the Development Area.

“We have put in place a masterplan that will put 15,000 houses in this area, not for rich people. There are [arrangements] to make sure the houses are affordable, and those houses are going to be developed by the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) and the National Housing Trust (NHT); those are the legitimate authorities of the government to develop housing,” he said.

“You’re going to have options to acquire the land itself… you will have options to acquire a starter unit and a full [two-bedroom] unit. Presently, we are modelling our target prices,” Holness further said.

He indicated that the cost will be based on the price range at the nearby Catherine Estates, while assuring that “you will be able to access a mortgage”.

The prime minister encouraged persons claiming they were swindled into purchasing property in the area to file a report with the police.

“We need to know who gave you permission to occupy the land… who charged you for that. We need to know [and] we need to put an end to it. It is important that those persons are willing to come to us [with the evidence and information], and the Government will be reasonable in all of this,” he said.

“We are not unsympathetic to the situation, and we want to assist. But if we are going to, you need to have clean hands coming to the table so that we can help you.”

While noting that it was not his intention for citizens to be without a home, Holness stressed that the law must be enforced.

“If you keep [pardoning these actions], it breaks down law and order until eventually it [the violation] is at your doorstep and you wonder why. It is because we didn’t draw the line when we should,” he pointed out.

Holness said he was informed that there were 30 illegally constructed units on the land and that SCJ Holdings Limited had posted stop orders twice.

He noted that efforts were made to contact the persons who were building the structures, but these were unsuccessful.

“We have no official record of the land being sold. It appears to me that you have been a victim of a scam and I would encourage you to make a report to the police,” he said.

– Jamaica Information Service