Editorial | Transparency needed on Bernard Lodge city
Audley Shaw, recently installed as Jamaica's agriculture minister and vowing to transform the sector into the new driver of economic growth, gives an anecdote to illustrate both the magnitude of the challenge and the enormity of the opportunity. A week after his reassignment from the finance portfolio late last month, he headed for a conference in Mendoza, Argentina, which meant he had to cross several South American countries by air.
" ... When I was flying across the South American continent, all I could see is production," Mr Shaw related on Monday in remarks at the St Mary agricultural expo at Gray's Inn. "Everywhere, something was being produced ... . Where you don't see crops growing, you see cattle. When I fly over Jamaica, I am tired to see idle lands."
Well, Mr Shaw is soon likely to see even more idle lands. Or, perhaps more lands occupied by houses where crops used to be grown. Especially at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine.
Bernard Lodge used to be a prime area for the growing of sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar, an industry whose last rites, in the case of Jamaica, should long have been said. But, Bernard Lodge, like many other areas on the plains of St Catherine, and other arable lands across Jamaica, is increasingly being covered by real estate.
During last month's debate of the Government's Budget for 2018-19, Prime Minister Andrew Holness promised it will soon get worse. He announced that Cabinet had given approval for the development of a new township in the area, which will accommodate "17,000 housing solutions" plus commercial buildings and manufacturing facilities.
Mr Holness did not say how much land would be allocated to this project, how it is to be funded, who will finance the venture, and by what process the land will be made available, or whether acquisitions have been made or commitments made. But the last time when there was a plan by the former administration for turning swathes of Bernard Lodge over to real estate, 275 acres were earmarked for the project.
Think project through
This newspaper appreciates that greenfield developments are often necessary to satisfy the country's housing demand and to meet development priorities. We are concerned, however, about a seemingly relentless encroachment on fertile, formerly cultivated lands, with little public discussion, and even less transparency as appears to be the danger with Bernard Lodge. In the event, the Bernard Lodge project seems to be proceeding without any reference to the several hundred acres of land acquired by the National Housing Trust at the start of the millennium for a new township in Clarendon.
Moreover, while Jamaica's sugar industry may be terminally ill, sugar cane is not the only crop for which Bernard Lodge and the St Catherine plains, are suitable. Perhaps the acreage to be given over to real estate should instead be under the fruits of vegetables Mr Shaw wants to see planted in Jamaica to ensure domestic food security and for export. If the land can be more rationally used in areas other than agriculture, that should be a matter for public debate instead of being presented as a fait accompli.
Further, there is a strong consensus that the government should be at the forefront of a major crusade to regenerate Jamaica's blighted urban communities and to formalise the too many squatter settlements where up to a third of the country's population live in degrading conditions. Such brownfield projects may not be sexy, but there is no questioning of their worth. Perhaps now Mr Shaw, as agriculture minister, may have a different perspective on Bernard Lodge.