The National Housing Trust (NHT) will be placing 48 units on the market for sale in early February.

The units, which are 775 square metres in size, were built under the second phase of the Morris Meadows development in St. Catherine.

Last year, under the project's first phase, NHT had placed 54 two bed-room detached units up for sale. According to Donald Moore, senior general manager for Construction and Development at NHT, the units are being sold for $4.6 million, close to $300,000 more than the Phase One houses.

Morris Meadows is located in the western section of Portmore, some four kilometres from the Mandela Highway, heading towards Spanish Town.

The units should have been completed in December last year but according to the agency, the project was delayed as a result of Hurricane Dean and the unstable weather conditions during October.

The December deadline was also affected by the shortage of construction materials, namely aggregate, cement and six-inch blocks, which became scarce immediately after the hurricane in August.

Construction of 49 two-bedroom detached units in Phase Three of the Morris Meadows development is scheduled to begin in February 2008.

selection of applicants

Dr. Lanie-Marie Oakley-Williams, general manager of operations, said applicants would be selected for the units by the priority index entitlement (PIE), which is the selection system used by the NHT to award scheme loans to applicants.

Under the PIE system, points are awarded based on income and the number of contributions made to the NHT.

To qualify for a house, all applicants must be current contributors to the NHT and must have made at least 52 weekly contributions, 13 of which must have been made during the 26-week period leading up to the date of application.

Applicants must not be current owners of a house or residential lot, and should not have received a previous loan from the NHT.

Persons who have joined or co-applied with other NHT contri-butors to take up previous loans are not eligible.

Contributors whose spouses are home or residential landowners are also not eligible.

There was a rush on the last units that were put on the market where some 988 persons applied, said the agency.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com