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Green light for construction of HAJ Portmore homes

Published:Friday | November 4, 2022 | 12:07 AM
Persons enter the worksite on September 29 at Sandown Palms in Portmore where construction was put on hold because of an approval fiasco. It has now received the green light.
Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Persons enter the worksite on September 29 at Sandown Palms in Portmore where construction was put on hold because of an approval fiasco. It has now received the green light.

After more than a month of delay, the Housing Agency of Jamaica Limited (HAJ) has secured a permit from the Portmore Municipal Corporation to begin construction of 148 homes at Sandown Palms.

The corporation had issued a stop order on the construction of the units in September because of the failure of the HAJ to gain approval.

“They submitted the proper documents last Thursday, and we grant the approval on Tuesday, which means that they can now begin the construction of the units unencumbered,” Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas told The Gleaner.

Thomas said the HAJ could have avoided the embarrassment if it had constructed the units under the Housing Act but had to continue the process with the corporation because the state agency had applied to the municipal corporation for the subdivision permit.

The gated community will accommodate 142 semi-detached town houses on average lot sizes of 146 square metres and six standalone units with an average 205 square metres of land space.

The cost of the units has not been disclosed.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness broke ground for the project in August.