By Devon Evans, Gleaner WriterALEXANDRIA, St. Ann:
MEMBER OF Parliament for South West St. Ann, Ernest Smith, has written to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson requesting that the Government assist in providing housing for residents in the constituency.
According to Mr. Smith, while housing schemes and other solutions have been developed in areas across the island, there were none in his constituency and that as a result residents were living in overcrowded conditions.
He said that the problem has been compounded by the severe restrictions placed on the granting of building permits because almost all of the constituency falls within the "Bauxite Mining Area".
Mr. Smith said that he lauded the Prime Minister's decision to construct over 2,000 housing solution for inner-city residents of Kingston as a step in the right direction, but that he hoped that his constituents who have been displaced by bauxite mining, can benefit from a similar housing plan.
The South West St. Ann MP said in his letter dated November 15, that in order to address the severe housing, shortage in the constituency: that lands which have been mined and reclaimed by Kaiser Jamaica be made available for residential use where appropriate; that lands owned by Kaiser/Commissioner of Lands which will never be mined be made available to residents for residential use; that the National Housing Trust, the National Housing Development Corporation and the Ministry of Housing be required as a matter of urgency to undertake the development of one or more housing schemes on the available lands.
