Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

Wayne Jones, president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association, says the deal for land was struck with government back in 1993. - File

The National Housing Trust (NHT), in collaboration with two trade-union organisations, will be investing $1.06 billion to develop housing units at Twickenham Park, St. Catherine, for public sector workers.

The project is a joint venture with the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) and the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), which both contributed the 20 hectares of land on which the houses are to be built.

NHT will provide project management and loan-processing services.

Twickenham Park is the first of a number of islandwide projects to deliver housing to government workers under a wage deal struck 15 years ago.

According to the NHT, the first phase of the 767-unit development will consist of 176 units - 80 two-bedroom town houses and 96 two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Some 113 of the 176 units under this phase are scheduled for completion by January 2009, said the housing agency. The remaining 63 units are to be delivered by June 2009.

First phase

Contractor, HDB Construction Limited, was given the go-ahead last week Wednesday to begin construction on the first phase, said the NHT.

The property for the Twicken-ham Park Housing Scheme is adjacent to the José Marti Technical High School, located at the westbound side of Nelson Mandela Highway.

The 20 hectares are being developed in four phases.

Tenders for Phase Two of the project are currently being evaluated, NHT said.

Construction of Phase Two is scheduled to start in July 2008.

In this phase, 234 units - 42 two-bedroom town houses, 120 two-bedroom apartments and 72 three-bedroom apartments - are to be constructed. These houses will hit the market in June 2010, according to the current schedule.

The Civil Service-JCTU-NHT joint venture is the first of its kind with the unions, said Wayne Jones, president of the JCSA.

Trade-off for wages

Back in 1993, the People's National Party administration agreed to provide the unions with land to be used for the development of houses for public sector workers - 20 hectares in each parish - in a trade-off for wages, said Jones.

"We have already identified lands in a number of the parishes. There are one or two that we are still in the process of identifying," he said.

The 767 units being built at Twickenham Park are meant to serve public sector workers in three parishes.

"The reason Twickenham Park is so big is it is intended to satisfy not just the workers in St Catherine, but bordering Kingston and St Andrew," he told Sunday Business.

Jones said the St Catherine project also got off to a late start because of the difficulty of finding a contractor to take on such a large project.

"Originally, the National Housing Trust, who is our partner in this, went to tender for contractors to build the 700-odd units," he said.

"Unfortunately, we got no responsive bids and when we investigated, we found that part of the reason was that many of our housing contractors apparently have a challenge with capacity; they are not able to take on such large development," he added.

As a result, he said, the project was redesigned for execution in phases.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com