'Where are the 200 NHT houses?' Jess asks PM

People's National Party (PNP) representative Zuleika Jess says Prime Minister Andrew Holness should tell National Housing Trust (NHT) contributors whether they will get any of the 200 houses for which $650 million was advanced to developer Dexim Holdings.

Jess, the caretaker for St Elizabeth North East, made the call on Sunday while addressing supporters at a party meeting in Westmoreland for the presentation of candidates for local and general elections.  

Holness has direct oversight of the NHT, which is now facing scrutiny over the deal with Dexim.

“In 2016, the Andrew Holness-led Government approved a $2.7 billion licence to a company called Caricel, and this licence was approved by Andrew Holness to an individual who the Contractor General found had adverse traces... two years later, the same Andrew Holness government used the NHT to approve an agreement for $2.5 billion for NHT money, your money, to be used to build houses by that individual who was a major stakeholder in the first company,” Jess said. 

She noted that despite the NHT advancing Dexim $650 million, the state agency has not received any of the houses in the Out of the Blue development in Discovery Bay, St Ann. 

"I call on the prime minister tonight, because he, the prime minister, has direct responsibility to answer the question, where are the 200 houses that the NHT contributors should have gotten by now?” Jess questioned. 

Yesterday, the Sunday Gleaner reported Dexim's attorney Michael Williams saying his client and the NHT reached a settlement regarding their dispute over the contract. The details have not been disclosed. 

In August 2019, the NHT and Dexim Holdings signed a guaranteed purchase agreement in which the NHT committed to buying 200 houses at $12.5 million per unit, or for a total figure of $2.5 billion. The first deadline was 2021, but the deal was amended and final delivery date set for August 2022. 

The NHT filed a lawsuit against the company in September 2022, alleging that after paying the company over $650 million, it was yet to get any of the houses and that Dexim was selling lots assigned to it. 

Dexim disputed the claims and instead argued that its work was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and escalation costs. It said the NHT would not lose any money because it took out a bond guaranteeing a refund. 

Dexim's CEO is George Neil. In 2016, the Office of the Contractor General told the Holness administration not to give a telecoms licence to a company linked to him because of "adverse traces" against the businessman. 

Holness went ahead but his administration was forced to revoke the licence less than a year later. 

- Christopher Thomas

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