Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

A scenic view of the Operation 'Pride' Pitfour phase three project in Montego Bay, St James. - Claudine Housen/Staff Photographer

The agency, which was up to last week known as National Housing Development Corporation, says it will need up to $20 billion to complete as many as 80 developments under Operation PRIDE, a troubled scheme that was aimed at making it easier for people to own homes by investing a fair amount of sweat equity.

And according to Joseph Shoucair, the plan for what is now called the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) is to raise most of the money by completing new housing projects, selling them on the open market and ploughing the profit into the Operation PRIDE schemes.

"We still have a lot of incomplete projects ... (that) are not really profitable," Shoucair told Wednes-day Business. "Those are social housing programmes.

"What we have to do now is to go into ... open market projects where we can go and build houses, create service lots and sell on the open market to anyone who wants to buy at a profit. That way, we can create a surplus," he said.

No timetable

Shoucair's bottom line price tag for completing the work was $18 billion, but he said it could require as much as $20 billion. There was no immediate timetable for the project.

Operation PRIDE (Operation Programme for Resettlement and Integrated Development Enterprise) was launched in the 1990s under the former People's National Party (PNP) administration geared primarily to civil servants and other middle class persons who were willing to work together to make ownership affordable.

Individuals would purchase lots in a PRIDE designated development and the owners, apart from contributing labour themselves, were to form provident societies, in which they would make payments to finance infrastructure work. The government, however, would proivde, up-front, the cash to pay contractors and would be repaid by the provident societies.

"Brotherhood"

As it turned out, the system, which one inquirer said was operated like a "brotherhood", provided an opportunity for massive corruption that cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

In the wake of the scandal fraud and corruption charges were brought against now Opposition People's National Party (PNP) activist and businessman, Danhai Williams and several NHDC staff members. They were, however, put aside months ago, because witnesses could not be found.

The NHDC and Operation PRIDE have undergone at least three make-overs in the wake of the scandal, and this latest, according to the year-old Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government, should enhance its ability to respond to shelter needs in a more efficient manner.

Of the 94 squatter and greenfield developments that initially fell under Operation PRIDE, only ??????? were completed, said Shoucair.

They include:

Melrose Mews, Manchester;

West Albion , St Thomas;

Luana (phase one) , St Elizabeth;

Pines of Karachi, St Andrew. that remain on the drawing boards would have to be relocated.

"Some of these projects are in areas where they should not be, for environmental reasons," he said. "For example, Frontier in St Mary. Some parts of it are below sea level."

"The Government of Jamaica cannot complete a scheme, which exposes its residents to that sort of danger," Shoucair said.

But persuading people that they will have to move all together would not be easy, Shoucair conceded, given that many of these were settlements, of informal, communities.

Where there was not this obstacle, work has begun in a number of communities, such as in Mamee Bay, St Ann, where roads and water are being put in. Similar work is being done at Flankers , St James.

"We are going around the island now saying what we can do in each of the projects baring in mind that some will have to be relocated," Shoucair said. "...We are looking at where we can place these people."

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com