Susan Gordon, Staff Reporter
Government has transferred nearly 3,000 acres of land to the National Housing Trust (NHT) as part payment for the $7 billion in unpaid contributions it owed the trust and is seeking to identify more acreage to hand over to clear the debt.
However, the land so far received by the NHT is valued at under $1 billion, or about 14 per cent of the amount owed by the Government, the NHT's CEO, Earl Samuels, confirmed yesterday.
At the same time, firms and private individuals who owed the NHT $2 billion when in January it offered a six-month amnesty on penalty to those who paid or made arrangements to pay, have cleared $110 million, Samuels told The Gleaner. "They have made arrangements to clear just over half a billion (dollars) over varying periods," he said.
The NHT, which finances housing development and other shelter projects in Jamaica, is funded by a refundable contribution of two per cent of their wages by employees, matched by a three per cent payroll tax on employers.
But often, although deducted from workers, neither the employees' or employers' contributions are paid over. At the time of the amnesty the Government was responsible for 80 per cent of the $9 billion owed to the NHT, with all the state's arrears being the employers' portion.
"The Government scrupulously pays the employees' contribution but is in arrears on the employers' portion," Samuels said. Firms owed $1.15 billion in employers' contribution and $850 million in employees' contribution.
Strapped for cash, the Government has apparently decided to settle its NHT bill with land which the trust can use for future housing development.
"So far we have received seven parcels of land from the Government as an arrangement for settlement of the arrears," Samuels explained.
Among these parcels, totalling 2,380 acres, are:
- 100 acres at Mango Valley, St. James;
- 250 acres in Mahogany Hall, St. James;
- 800 acres in Richmond Hill, St. James;
- 130 acres in Spring Mount;
- 400 acres in Hopewell Farms, Hanover; and
- 700 acres in Spring Valley, Hanover.
"This is not the full settlement," Samuels said. "There is a significant amount still outstanding, so the National Land Agency is in the process of identifying suitable lands that can be made available to us."
During the period of the Amnesty NHT actually had 3,560 employers coming forward, 2,466 self employed and 1,094 companies, who were assessed for more than $666.2 million, after being granted penalty waivers of of nearly $387 million, Samuels said.
Meantime, the NHT wants, over the longer term, to toughen the law against firms and self-employed persons who are delinquent.
"There's a draft being reviewed and we are hoping to send it to the (NHT) board by the end of September," said the agency's acting head of compliance, Steve McDonald.
More immediately, McDonald is beefing up his compliance staff, hiring 20 more people.
"There are some employers hiding from us," he said. "We want to be out there and have more of a presence."