Contract Signing and Groundbreaking Ceremony in Spicy Grove
Main Address
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Growth and Job Creation
At the
Contract Signing and Groundbreaking, Spicy Grove,
Oracabessa, St Mary
On
September 25, 2024
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As I drove into the community, and I observed the surroundings, and I looked at the people, you could sense that there was a little apprehension and I can tell why because this has been a long time in coming.
Like many communities in Jamaica, Spicy Grove was not formally established. There are 750 informal settlements in Jamaica, and 600,000 people live in them. That statistic may be a little bit dated because we are still awaiting the new census which will give us an update as to where we are but I think it gives us a fair representation of the extent of the challenge that exists for settlement in Jamaica.
Now, your Member of Parliament gave the history as to how this settlement came about. Somebody had the land but they didn’t establish their ownership and use, somebody else came, established ownership and use, acquired it through the adverse possession route of the law, other persons moved on, and of course, there is a contest of tenureship.
When the matter came before me, through your Member of Parliament, the sense I had was that the people had established the community. I gather that the houses were well-built as we can see that there are some serious structures here. People had made their investment in the land so we took the view that it would be better to support the community to regularize the community and so we made the provisions.
I want to therefore say to the people who reside here, that the government having made the provision for the regularization, and to be clear, what does the regularization mean? It is not just the acquisition of the land in your behalf; the government of Jamaica will be making an investment in putting in the roads and one of the reasons why I am very happy to be here is that I am not just signing the contract because as I entered the community, I saw the land surveyors with their equipment already doing the work. So the look of apprehension on the faces of the residents shouldn’t exist anymore because work started already. This is not just a promise now, this is a reality.
Not only will we put in the road, but we will put in the water supply which is very important for any community and all the other amenities will follow once your road and your water is in. It will mean, as the surveyors go about trying to identify where the boundaries are, it may mean that there would have to be some readjustment. Some persons may have put their fence in the path of where a road should be and therefore, there may have to be some adjustment but we ask for your cooperation. I know that there is a process in place where all of the residents will be consulted and it is not a situation where there is a heavy hand being applied. Certainly, there would be consultations and negotiations.
The public would be happy to know that there will be 70 lots that will be surveyed and titled so in addition to the road and the water and what we paid for the land in your behalf, you will also get your titles. So in effect, if there ever was an example of a community that is going to be transformed, regularized overnight, Spicey Grove would be that community. You get your road, your light, your water, your land title. The only thing I would say is that as I look at the buildings that exist, is that the residents have taken great pride in their structures. They have built fairly good structures. There are some houses that may need some support so MP Montague, we will take a second look as to what we can do for those whose structures are in need but I’m not here making any commitment just yet. We have to go and look and see what is there.
I wanted to point out that the government is developing a programme where we will allocate for the next three years 5 billion dollars to improve communities just like Spicey Grove and there are several communities. I have said 750 but that 15 billion dollars will not be able to do all the communities but it is a start. So where the communities need roads, water and other infrastructure and some amount of restructuring to get them titles, we will be doing this sort of intervention.
It is very important that we regularize informal settlements that the people who live in these communities take ownership. You see this business of living somewhere and you don’t feel like you own it, it means that you don’t take the kind of responsibility for the community that you should but when you know that you have the title for the place, that this is an asset for you, then when you see a man behaving badly in the community, you are more likely to stand up and say, listen man, this is my place, this is my value and I don’t want you to destroy it and that is what we are promoting with regularizing the community. What we are doing is ensuring that the people in the community take ownership. of the community.
Now, recently I was at the United Nations and the purpose for being there was to advocate for greater support for something called the Sustainable Development Goals. Shelter and housing and community development is captured in the Sustainable Development Goals. Jamaica is committed to achieving The Sustainable Development Goals. We had set a task in our National Development Plan that we would achieve developed country status by 2030; Jamaica, the place of choice to live, work and do business and raise your family, that is what we are committed to. And we set certain benchmarks and certain targets in certain areas: in education, in healthcare, in housing and community, in environment, in all kinds of areas. What we have discovered globally is that for most countries they are only achieving 16 percent of the targets that they had set under the SDGs and that’s really a challenge.
Jamaica is doing much better than the rest of the world and in fact, Jamaica is the leading country in the Caribbean for meeting the SDG goals based upon our national development plan. In fact, we’re about 60 per cent of the way there. There have been setbacks, no doubt. Sometimes the national conversation forgot that the world was struck by COVID and for two years there was barely any investment that could be made in social development. We had a massive supply-side shock where supply chains were disrupted, growth fell off and inflation went up so all of those things had an impact on the pace at which we fulfil the sustainable development goals but the government is recommitting itself to redoubling its effort so that Jamaica achieves the developed country status.
Now, for all the people who live here in Spicy Grove, for you, you are the beneficiary of a significant investment of the government, several millions of dollars will be invested in your community but for you it is no concern as to where this money came from. All you are concerned about is that the money is invested but as citizens, your concern and interest must go beyond that because without a strong economy, this couldn’t happen in Spicy Grove. So all of you who are looking on saying, well, we have heard promises before, but it’s not going to happen, do you know why this one happened? It happened because your government created an economy that generated the revenue so that when I stand up and say, we’re going to regularize Spicy Grove, we’re going to buy the land for the people of Spicy Grove, we’re going to put in your road and put in your water, it’s not a hollow promise. It is a commitment backed by resources.
There will be those who come to you and tell you what you want to hear and you want to hear it and accept it but then it doesn’t happen because they have no clue as to how to make it happen so I say to all of you here in Spicy Grove, your life is on the line. It’s changing for the better because you have a government that is able not just to make a promise, but to fulfil the promise. I know that when I leave here and I go back to Kingston after I have signed the contract, you’re going to see the work start on the road. You’re going to see the pipe laid. So, I want you to understand where we are as a country and your role in it and your role is to ensure that you have a government that creates an economy. There is nothing that can happen, there is nothing that you want to be fulfilled without an economy to do it. All of you better realize that.
In the 80’s when Ronald Reagan, I believe, was running to become president and the American electoral system, they had a little saying. They say “It’s the economy, stupid.” It’s about the economy, nothing else. Always there will be other issues but especially now where we are for Jamaica, if the things that we want to achieve, the road, the water, your hospital, your school, everything that you want, if you don’t have a good economy, you won’t achieve it. Not only did we come to tell you that we are fixing the road, the water and everything but, your member of parliament could also say, that the school that a teacher fell through the flooring, that school is going to be totally refurbished.
How are we able to do that? Economy. Never forget that point. So, all the things you ask for, can only be possible if you have a government that is creating a strong economy. So, my new friends at Spicy Grove, I will be able to drive up here in relative comfort next time and I will be able to see all the numbers at the gates and everybody will have their own title and your member of parliament is reminding you that when you own property now, you will have to pay a little property tax.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure.