Tashieka Mair, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Minister of Water and Housing, Dr. Horace Chang, says the Government is committed to spending more than $250 million on the formalisation and improvement of the community of Flankers in St. James.

Dr. Chang said this would be the start of a plan to improve the many informal settlements around the parish, which, he said, are often plagued by crime and violence due to a lack of proper infrastructure and basic facilities.

The Housing Minister, who addressed the first sitting of the monthly meeting of the St. James Parish Council yesterday, told journalists that work had already begun in the Flankers area and that the improvements to the area should bring hope to other communities.

Costly upgrade

"The water supply, which will be running at about $30 million in the first stage, has already begun," he said. "I think, overall, we could end up spending about $400 million in Flankers alone, and that is what it will cost to upgrade just one of our communities."

Dr. Chang added: "The next section to be done will be Section 'H' of Norwood (Norwood Gardens) because they already have some water lines, which were laid there some years ago. The objective is to complete any one area we do so that individuals can see what we're doing and this will bring hope to other communities and we move on to the next stage."

Flankers and Norwood fall under Dr. Chang's North West St. James constituency.

"This is going to cost a lot of money. We have seen some infrastructure work in Montego Bay already, but the kind of infrastructure work we are promoting is work that is going to get to the heart of the town and deal directly with people's lives," he said.

The minister said there were plans to begin roadwork in smaller areas, such as Glendevon, in another eight weeks.