Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for The Nitram of Waterloo Apartments
Keynote Address
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
At the
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for The Nitram of Waterloo Apartments
On
March 25, 2025
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The Honourable Deroy Chuck, our Minister of Justice, but more importantly for this purpose, the Member of Parliament for this area,
Father Richard Brown, for prayers
Allow me to acknowledge as well Mr Ryan Parks, Acting Chairman of the Jamaica Mortgage Bank,
Anake and Family, Directors of Nitram,
Mr Michael Willacy, Senior Vice President, Corporate Banking of Sagicor,
Other representatives of the public and private sector who are here.
Members of the media.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a good morning.
Today is a reminder that when public purpose meets private initiative, we can deliver real results for the Jamaican people. It is a celebration of what we can achieve together when vision, partnership, and the national strategy align.
The Nitram of Waterloo is an example of how my government is leveraging public-private partnerships to transform the Jamaican housing landscape, and I want to begin by commending the key players who brought this project to life, the Martin family: Mrs Sandra Martin and daughters Anake, Wendy and Catherine. Thank you for honouring the legacy of the late Phillip Martin and for demonstrating what Jamaican entrepreneurship looks like.
It is a big risk to invest in something like this. I am just guessing, but I suspect this project would be over $1.6 billion. Am I in the right ballpark? So, you imagine the sleepless nights that Phillip would’ve had and the distress it would’ve caused his family, his wife and daughters in particular, not to mention Sagicor, who had 49% of the loan. And I’m certain that the Jamaica Mortgage Bank would be in great trepidation when they had to come and report to me because it would be a significant exposure were it not to work out well for both Sagicor and JMB, but that is what entrepreneurship is about.
We have lost some of that in the last four decades, but I’m confident that we are rebuilding it. We are rebuilding the spirit of risk, which is absolutely important for a competitive free market like Jamaica. We make no excuse for that. We’re not ashamed of that. That is the economy that we are building, an economy that depends on the entrepreneur being willing to mobilize capital, but more important than that, the entrepreneur is a visionary. The entrepreneur is not a dreamer. The dreamer has his eyes closed. The entrepreneur is a visionary, he has his eyes open. He understands the risk. He sells the vision. He brings people together. He’s committed to it, even when his family tells him no, and he stays with it, and at the end of the day, you see the result. The benefit of having entrepreneurs is not just the profit that the entrepreneur claims. Sometimes, the error we make is to look at success and say the success is only for the entrepreneur, only for the businessman, only for the people with money, but for a moment, think, how many persons worked here.
I’m seeing in the audience architects and engineers, attorneys-at-law, all the other professional services that went into making this. In other words, the entrepreneur contributes significantly to the economy. One of the reasons why we have such weak growth over a long period of time is that we simply do not have enough entrepreneurs putting together projects, taking the risk, putting together the financing, mobilizing the resources, providing the employment, and at the end of the day, contributing something new to the landscape.
I’m going through all of this because I’m merely repeating my recommendation to Phillip, who is not here to hear it, but I’m sure his family is receiving it, and I’m hoping that out of this, the entrepreneurial legacy will continue through his daughters and his grandchildren who are here. And I’m also hoping that within this audience, there are persons who are listening who would be inspired to become entrepreneurs yourself. It may not be for a building like this, but it may be for whatever that inspires you.
There is a saying, necessity is the mother of invention, but I would like to modify that a bit. Empathy is the mother of entrepreneurism. It’s not the profit that Martin was after. It was to contribute something that would uplift his community. And so for the entrepreneurs who are thinking about profit, that should really be secondary. Your passion should be what can you do that will change the world, starting with my community, and that’s the inspiration, and that’s what we need more of. We need more of our young people taking this kind of concern about all the situations that you experience within your life, within your community, and seeing how we can make a difference.
I also want to commend the Jamaica Mortgage Bank. Your role in this project speaks to the government’s commitment to unlocking the potential of the private sector in solving one of Jamaica’s most pressing challenges: housing. This is what partnerships look like, and this is how we are going to meet our national housing goals.
The Nitram is a model of what is possible when the private sector initiative aligns with the national policy priorities, when excellence in design, safety, sustainability, and inclusivity meet the urgent and evolving needs of our citizens. With its 47 apartments ranging from spacious one and two bedrooms to a three-bedroom penthouse, this six-story development caters to a growing demographic of working professionals, retirees, and small families seeking modern, secure, and well-located homes in the heart of the city.
Ladies and gentlemen, Jamaica’s housing landscape is undergoing profound transformation. For decades, we have wrestled with the challenge of inadequate housing, urban sprawl and informal settlement growth, but I’m pleased to say we are turning a new page. My government has made housing a cornerstone of our growth agenda because we understand that housing is not just about shelter; it’s about dignity, security, health and opportunity. It is the foundation upon which communities are built and economies are strengthened.
Our housing strategy is clear. First, we’re focused on increasing the supply of quality, affordable housing for low and middle-income Jamaicans through partnerships between government agencies such as the Jamaica Mortgage Bank, the National Housing Trust and the Housing Agency of Jamaica and private developers. Second, we are driving urban renewal, making better use of scarce land in our towns and cities to create vibrant, well-planned communities. Third, we are promoting sustainability both in construction methods and in long-term livability of the communities we create. And finally, we are placing people at the center, ensuring that our housing solutions reflect the diversity of needs across age, income, and lifestyle.
The Nitram of Waterloo supports all these objectives. Located in the established corridor of Upper Waterloo Road, this project exemplifies infill development, smart, sustainable use of existing urban land to reduce pressure on greenfield sites. Instead of contributing to sprawl, it enhances the fabric of an existing community by offering high-quality residential options within reach of major employment, education, and commercial nodes.
In this way, the Nitram helps to reduce commute times, lower transportation costs and improve quality of life for its residents, goals that align with our national transportation and environmental priorities. None of this happened by chance. The success of this project is a result of a deliberate policy direction, one that recognizes the power of partnership in tackling Jamaica’s housing deficit.
The Jamaica Mortgage Bank plays a critical role in this national strategy by financing private developments like Nitram; the Jamaica Mortgage Bank is helping to increase the supply of housing in high-end, high-demand urban areas. This model allows us to move faster, a little smarter and create more value for our citizens.
Let me place this in context. As a government, we made a commitment of 70,000 new housing solutions. To be clear, the housing deficit is somewhere in the region of about 150,000 houses. You asked why prices are high for housing; that’s because there is this very large deficit. The housing market, like everywhere else, Jamaica, is not unusual. You have a segmented housing market; you have high-income, middle-income, lower middle-income, and then you have affordable, and then you have low-income. In between affordable and low-income, we have a categorization that we call achievable, meaning if you sacrifice enough of your income, you should be able to achieve it.
The challenge that we face is that the market performs very well at the higher end, the upper middle, and even in the middle-income section. In other words, the private market, without much more help from government other than regulatory and financing to some extent, the market works well because there are enough entrepreneurs who would be willing to take the risk.
But as you go into the other segments of the housing market, it becomes even more challenging, and there are many obstacles. First, it’s the availability of land, and once we have identified the lands, then the next issue is infrastructure and who is going to build the infrastructure. Infrastructure is extremely expensive, and therefore, it is the state that has to provide the infrastructure.
Let’s say the state provided the infrastructure; the issue then becomes can the income of the purchaser still afford the solution that is provided and categorized as low-income and lower middle income or even achievable? And so what we have found is that there is a mismatch between incomes and the price of housing, and what we have been doing through the NHT is to consistently increase the loan value for contributors to help with affordability. In other words, helping to create what economists call effective demand.
There are quite a number of persons who would want to purchase a home, but their income does not allow them because the price of the home is still somewhere above the 30 or 40% of their income that they could set aside to pay a mortgage or even to save for a deposit. So what the government tries to do is to give greater access to credit to financing through the NHT but more than that, which is not oftentimes spoken about, we have reduced the interest rates quite significantly, that if you are a low-income earner you get 0% on your mortgage and on average the interest rate is somewhere in the region of 2%.
We also try to support by, in some instances, giving 100% financing on houses that the NHT builds. We give support as well by trying as best as possible to keep the prices down, but the real solution will come when we are able to get housing construction on mass. The challenge is that we have some developers, their resources and their efforts are usually tied up in producing lower middle, middle, and upper. What we need to do is develop a cater of housing developers who can focus on building low-income housing en masse, so instead of doing 1000 or 2000, we need 10,000 at a time.
And that was the idea behind the Bernard Lodge development, where we secured vast acreages, we put in infrastructure, and we allowed the developers to build. Now the Bernard Lodge development is not targeted at fully lower income or affordable. It’s a little bit to what you would describe as the lower middle income/ middle income but we have since announced, and I have announced it in my budget presentation, that we are now looking to develop the Innswood master plan, the greater Innswood area and we’re going to target that area now to focus wholly and solely on providing lower income, affordable housing in that region.
And in fact, we have given a directive to the NHT that the NHT must focus on providing lower-income and affordable housing because the private market itself, like what we’re doing here, is working quite well. It’s providing these developments quite well. So in order for us to have equity and fairness in our society, because, make no mistake, somebody is going to drive past here and they’re going to look here and say, I’d love to have one of these. They’re going to come and inquire about the price, and they’re going to be terribly disappointed that they’re not able to afford this. And this disappointment is going to create a frustration, which is going to blow back on the government.
They’re going to say the government is not doing anything for poor people. We’re not catering for the needs of the poor, which is not absolutely not true, and that is why we have directed the NHT. If you look at the sources through which the government provides assistance to the housing market, we have the Jamaica Mortgage Bank, and we allowed the JMB to focus on lower-middle, middle, and higher income.
For that reason, we are going to divest the JMB. The Jamaica Mortgage Bank, in a few more months, will be on the stock exchange. You can buy into it, give it some more resources so it can fund more projects like these in collaboration with the private sector. That is going into the private sector. You can participate in the wealth that it will create. We will then target and focus as we have been doing the HAJ and the NHT to focus now on developing more of the middle lower, lower and affordable housing solutions. And for those persons who have no income whatsoever, we are building out and scaling up the new social housing programme where we provide housing for the poorest of the poor.
If it’s one thing that this government wants to do, is to ensure that there is fair and equitable development in the society. We know that the frustration is not just about the poor not being able to access proper housing solutions; the frustration is also with young people, the young professionals leaving college, leaving university, they’re getting their paychecks now. They are in the category of effective demanders of housing solutions, but there’s just not enough housing solutions in the market. So there will be all kinds of promises to young people, and many of them will probably be attracted to the promises, but there are certain immutable realities.
I often say to people that economics is like physics. The laws of economics are as immutable as the laws of physics. You can’t change them no matter how many promises you make and how beautiful sounding these promises are, if you don’t build the houses, you can’t provide them for rent, and that’s the core of the problem. How do we build the houses and the solutions that people can afford?
And so what we have been doing, we have identified lands right across Jamaica that we will be putting into the housing pool for private developers and the NHT itself to directly develop. We have recently announced, and you would’ve heard it in the budget, the small developers programme because once you’re talking about greenfield development, the infrastructure cost becomes so high, and if you add that to the cost of the housing, even the house by itself, that a low-income earner could afford, when you put infrastructure in it, it becomes unaffordable.
What we’re doing is looking at areas where the infrastructure already exists but may need some amount of upgrading. So, if you look at areas like Swallow Field, many communities in this area. If you look, Downtown, Central Kingston, roads are in place. Water mains may need to be increased, close proximity to sewage, close proximity to the economic hubs, but they may need some upgrading. So, what we have tasked the NHT to do now, and I’m hoping that some developers are here who will hear the idea, is that the NHT will finance small developments in those areas.
If you could get a half acre and you could get the neighbour beside to pool and the neighbour beside to pool, and you come up with a acre and a half, two acres, the NHT would finance that development at a certain price point. In fact, the NHT would purchase those houses from you directly, so you, as a developer, bear no risk, and that is a way to rapidly start the infilling of these communities that are suffering from urban blight. I’m hoping that it’s sparking some ideas in the entrepreneurs that might be here in the audience.
And then you would’ve also heard that we are changing the urban development tax incentives, and we are going to expand those to several other areas, and they’re not going to be only available for commercial or industrial development, but these tax incentives will now become available for residential development. And if you are going to be building solutions that are going to be catering to young people, studios, one-bedroom apartments, these kinds of things- then you will get even more incentives when we announce them in a few months.
We are doing everything we can to support the housing market to give the incentive to those persons who are empathetic about the shortage of housing in Jamaica and who want to see structured and sustainable transformation of the built environment. This administration is putting in place all the measures to support the private initiative that will work in alignment with the government.
So, having said all of that, it is just left for me to once again remind Jamaican people that as of July 1, 2025, the NHT loan limit will be raised from $7.5 million to $9 million. So if you want to get one of these, you are well on your way, and if you make co-applicant, you can now access $17 million. And then if three persons co-make, then you can get $23 million. So, you’re well on your way to acquire one of these lovely units here. I’m not going to say what the prices are here, but you’re well on your way.
There is an important caveat that we have put on this. Where the cost of the housing solution is $14 million or less, the individual that is a single borrower will be able to access $12 million, subject to affordability. We notice that each time we increase the loan limits, the developers increase the price.
Now, I’m not a believer in price controls and these kinds of things. I believe in a transparent market and the market will self-regulate but the market works when there is an option for supply that I don’t have to go to the high priced, which is why we are working to expand the supply.
I’m appealing, however, because there is still a conscience in capitalism. I’m appealing to the developers to keep the prices as they are. We have managed to keep inflation down. Come on, man, have some conscience. What we are trying to do is help you so that more persons can purchase the housing stock that you have but what we have also done is to create an incentive to assist those borrowers who are trying to acquire housing in the affordable and low-income segment of the market.
If you are in the low-income, affordable segment of the market, you can get $12 million to borrow, which is good. That’s how we added this new feature to give an incentive for persons who are building in the low-income and affordable-income segment of the market and to ensure that those persons are able to actually acquire the unit.
Of course, subject to what your income can afford. If your income can’t afford the $12 million, then we wouldn’t be able to lend you the $12 million. And as I had mentioned before, we have introduced the small development partnership programme, which will increase the level of infill development right across Kingston.
So again, to the Jamaica Mortgage Bank, my recommendations. Very soon, you will not be under my portfolio, and I will be very pleased to say that as Prime Minister, I have overseen, developed and taken to market several entities that were under government but are now creating wealth for the people of Jamaica. And we’re not just taking it and handing it to a private sector person. No, we are putting it in the mechanism for socialization of wealth which is the Jamaica Stock Market.
Jamaicans can get a chance at owning a piece of JMB. We have done quite a bit, and I think the Jamaicans who have participated in those companies that we have brought public, Wigton Wind Farm, that has done very well. People invested in that from beginning. They’re looking at almost a doubling. The Trans Jamaica Highway has done extremely well. People who invested in that are looking at almost a doubling, and I know that when we bring the Jamaica Mortgage Bank, the same thing will happen. We are going to be creating wealth for the average Jamaican.
I want to commend again the Martin family and your professional team of architects, contractors, engineers, surveyors and the tradesmen and laborers who worked on the project. You have delivered Excellence.
This project is a blueprint, and I encourage more Jamaican developers to follow your lead. To the future residents of Nitram, welcome home. And may your lives here be peaceful, joyous, and a new beginning. And to all Jamaicans watching today, know this, we are building a Jamaica where decent housing is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all through partnership, through policy, and through perseverance. Let us choose to build Jamaica; let us always choose Jamaica in everything that we do.
God bless you and thank you.