SCJ hits back at demolition cry
Published:Tuesday | February 16, 2021 | 12:15 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
SCJ Holdings Limited has refuted claims that it was being inconsiderate when it demolished 15 family homes at Innswood Estates last Saturday.
In a release last night, SCJ Managing Director Joseph Shoucair said the state-owned company had exercised due process and that the demolition was a last resort after the families failed to vacate the land so it could be handed to the new owners as agreed.
The SCJ said that it first notified the residents of its plans for the development of the land in 2014 and after a number of meetings, an agreement was reached for SCJ to help the families relocate to Ebony Park.
“Following the consensus on the location, in the presence of their attorney-at-law, the residents were asked to execute a deed of release and discharge in May 2020 and did so willingly”, Shoucair said in the release, adding that the company constructed 10 homes at Ebony Park at great expense, with the assistance of Food For The Poor Jamaica.
“ ... [The homes were] equipped with electricity from the Jamaica Public Service Company and water from National Water Commission. As an interim measure, due to the low pressure in the NWC line, the company has also provided each resident with a tank for the storage of water,” Shoucair added.
“Despite our best efforts to have the remaining occupants, whose possession has prevented the SCJH from being able to grant the buyer vacant possession, to vacate the lands; there was no alternative but using thes legal options available”, he explained.
Despite this, yesterday when The Gleaner visited the location, our news team was met with complaints that the units lack proper bathroom drainage facilities and running water and have malfunctioning toilets. Residents were also peeved at the absence of street lights and adequate roads.
Shian Ganpatt, a mother of two, said that she had worked for Innswood Estates for more than 11 years, during which time she had got a house in Chedwin Gardens from the National Housing Trust, through her employers.
In 2008, she was made redundant and unable to pay her mortgage, she returned to live with relatives at Innswood.
“SCJ promised that they would pay off the mortgage so I could keep the house. Since then, they had told us that we will be relocated from where we were living because it was needed to expand the SilverSun housing development,” she stated.
“Now they have gone back on their word and without giving us enough time to finish the houses from Food For The Poor. We were forced to come here without proper infrastructure in place,” Ganpatt disclosed.
Yesterday, workmen from the SCJ were carrying out construction work on her unit as she stays with friends until it has been completed.
Nicholas Richards, whose house was also demolished on Saturday, said that he had been living at Innswood for more than 30 years and no provision has been made for him to get a house.
“They came in mash up mi fridge, stove and TV, and they didn’t even make any provision for me to get a house, even though I was promised one by SCJ,” he charged.
SCJ denied that any appliances were damaged in the demolition exercise.
Reacting to complaints about incomplete units, Food For The Poor Director Craig Moss-Solomon told The Gleaner that the organisation has fulfilled its promises to the residents – that is, providing them with starter houses.
“We have played our part. We are not responsible for putting in interior doors. We don’t get involved in hooking up water systems and drainage. Those are issues they will have to work out with SCJ,” said Moss-Solomon.