John Allgrove | Before you pour more cement

I urge the Government and Jamaicans, generally, to read the Urban Development Corporation’s (UDC) 1970 report on the plans to develop the Hellshire Hills to prevent the invasion of the excellent agricultural lands of southeast St Catherine. These plans were developed by us at the UDC at the request of Edward Seaga, the minister responsible for the corporation at the time.

I have set out below some key issues to be considered:

- All of the agricultural areas are ­irrigated by gravity, easy to maintain, and offer the cheapest irrigation water in Jamaica. Additionally, 30 million gallons per day and more to come of water from the Soapberry treatment works are available to supplement Rio Cobre irrigation.

- Irrigation is the main source of water to recharge the aquifer from which the National Water Commission extracts water to supply Portmore, Braeton, and Hellshire.

- Hellshire is about 30,000 acres in total, of which we designated about 10,000 acres for urban development.

- This land has no alternative or better use, certainly not for agriculture, as the original patent owners discovered when they came to Jamaica and, indeed, left it undeveloped soon thereafter.

- Hellshire is elevated and therefore not subject to flooding.

- Much of the infrastructure for the Hellshire Bay township is in place.

- With the southeast breeze from about 10 a.m. onwards each day, Hellshire is much cooler than the flatlands north of Hellshire.

- All of Hellshire has been mapped at scales required for planning and engineering designs.

- Hellshire was planned to accommodate a population of more than 300,000 people.

On March 5, I wrote to Agriculture Minister Audley Shaw and copied to the prime minister to remind them of these plans and suggested that armed with this information, the Government should reconsider the decision to utilise the Bernard Lodge and Caymanas lands for urban development. Thankfully, the Government has indicated that it is reviewing its course of action.

By the way, I am in full agreement with Basil Fernandez’s assessment of the water situation in the Bernard Lodge area.

The UDC itself is ignoring its own plans with the decision to utilise the Caymanas agricultural lands for urban expansion.

The Chinese purchased the Bernard Lodge lands to grow cane and produce sugar, so if they are no longer interested in doing so, I suggest that the Government repurchase these lands, possibly using a swap with some of the Hellshire lands on which they can provide housing, ­factories, etc.

With regard to the Bernard Lodge lands, I suggest that the Government consider negotiating with Worthy Park to properly manage these lands.

In closing, I wish to also remind the Government of the National Physical Development Plan produced by the Town Planning Department in 1972. This will show that we have already gobbled up thousands of acres of our best agricultural lands for urban expansion, e.g., north of Spanish Town, south of Old Harbour, Barnett Estates, Ironshore, Rose Hall, and Llandovery. We will soon be importing sugar from China.

John Allgrove is a civil engineer and a former chief engineer of the UDC. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.