COMPLANT to build Jamaican homes backed by J$6.5b Chinese loan
Published:Sunday | December 5, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Dionne Rose, Business Reporter
COMPLANT, the Chinese firm which has acquired a sizeable chunk of the Government's sugar assets, is now slated to spread its wings to housing development. The foreign firm's foray into construction comes as an edict of the Chinese government, which is lending its Jamaican counterpart the money for the housing project.
The J$6.5-billion loan from the Export Import Bank of China comes with the caveat that the Chinese firm, already doing business in Jamaica, should be given the construction work, Joseph Shoucair, the managing director of the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), told the Sunday Business.
3,500 houses and lots
COMPLANT's track record in Jamaica includes the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, which was also Chinese funded. And, in July, the company also acquired three state-owned sugar factories -Monymusk, Frome, and Bernard Lodge -for US$9 million. Full transition of the factories to the new owners will take place by June 2011.
The housing loan will fund the construction of a mix of 3,500 houses and lots in St Ann and St Elizabeth.
"The interest rates on the loan is two per cent over 20 years," the HAJ head said.
Construction on the Chinese-funded projects will commence next February and should be completed within the next three to four years, according to the HAJ official.
About 1,200 housing units and lots will be done at Belair and Mount Edgecombe in St Ann, while 850 solutions are slated for Luana in St Elizabeth.
The solutions will include serviced lots, studio units or one-bedroom units, and two-bedroom houses.
"What we are aiming at is tourism workers who can't afford what is now being afforded on the market," said Shoucair.
He said the units will be priced at between J$3.5 million and J$4 million, which falls in the lower-income range of the real-estate market.
The Goverment's stalled Operation PRIDE low-income housing initiative is also to benefit from the Chinese loan. These projects include Belair Phases One and Two and Mount Edgecombe Phase Four in St Ann.
completing pride projects
Shoucair said the work would address the squatter settlements in those areas.
He said his agency had been making inroads in completing unfinished PRIDE projects, which up to two years ago, numbered 80.
Seven of the Operation PRIDE developments were completed with HAJ resources and J$1 billion from the Tourism Enhancement Fund.
"We are putting together's a proposal to go abroad to identify grant funds to make a meaningful dent in the (other) projects," Shoucair said.
The intention is to approach the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union, he said.