Reggae Boyz get land

By Keril Wright, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

MIDFIELDER THEODORE Whitmore, three former 'Reggae Boyz' and the family of deceased national defender, Stephen "Shorty" Malcolm, have been offered land in Barrett Hall, St. James - four years after Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced that each player would receive land on which to build houses.

Barrett Hall is located near Lilliput off the Rose Hall main road, an informal settlement that is being regularised under the National Housing Develop-ment Corporation (NHDC).

The Ministry of Water and Housing disclosed on Friday that Warren Barrett, former national goalkeeper; Hector Wright, former national captain; Theodore "Tappa" Whitmore, national midfielder; Paul "Tegat" Davis, former national player; and "Shorty" Malcolm's family all received letters of commitment for the land.

Whitmore, who spoke to The Gleaner, said he and other national football players made representation last Tuesday after they discovered that Water and Housing Minister Dr. Karl Blythe was in Montego Bay to break ground in Barrett Hall.

"Tegat, Hector and myself went to him and told him we were interested in getting a piece of the land in Barrett Hall," Whitmore said. He added that they were taken to Barrett Hall on Wednesday and allowed to select plots of land in which they were interested and they were subsequently furnished with commitment letters.

"We haven't gotten it yet, so I can't say for sure how it will go. It has been a long time since we were promised this land with people even thinking we had received it, but so far I am pleased with how things are going," he said.

Warren Barrett was likewise pleased that the Montego Bay-based Reggae Boyz were finally getting their land after the long wait. "I am pretty enthused right now considering how long we have waited," Barrett told The Gleaner.

Michael Vascianna, chairman of the NHDC said the national football players in Montego Bay were probably the last batch to receive the land, which was promised to them in 1997. He said others had received housing units in schemes all over the island.

Mr. Vascianna said the players were entitled to a $500,000 concession on the land and as such would be required to pay $100,000 if the lots cost $600,000, or pay nothing if the lots were priced at $500,000 or less.

Dr. Blythe announced last week during the groundbreaking ceremony to officially launch the project that settlers would be required to pay no more than $350,000 for each of the average 5,000 square feet lots.

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