The Current Standard of Education Is Not Sufficient to Support the Level of Growth Jamaica Needs
the need to be able to provide houses much faster than people will make the decision to squat. That's the That's the the core of the issue. The informal, irregular, and illegal settlement of land, it is not just because of the history of dispossession coming from the era of enslavement. It is also the fact that there are persons who are genuinely looking for a housing solution that they can afford and they cannot find it. So, I know that Councillor Nickle Smith is going to say I'm picking on him. I am not picking on any parish council. I'm saying that the parish council is a critical element in the approval process. And instead of taking sometimes a combative approach, sometimes a nonchalant approach, or a disinterested approach, I urge the parish councils to take a development approach. Hey, I hear you have land you want to develop. Come, let us sit down and work out the strategy and the scheme to get your approvals quickly so that we can bring these houses to market quickly. That should be the attitude. Instead of saying I'm not going to give you any approval unless I get this or unless I get that, which has been, unfortunately, the attitude in the past. There is a part of the efficiency question which must be answered by change in legislation, change in policies, and change in processes. But there is also a part of the efficiency question which must be answered by attitude. What is the attitude that we take to development? That's the issue. Let's see what attitude will be taken here to this development. Let's see if it is one that it is going to be supportive of the development. Because the same people who take a negative attitude to development are the same one most loudly saying people must get houses. And are critical of the government when the house take long to come. We have to get past the charade. And speak to the genuine facts of the situation. And the genuine facts are that if we do not produce enough housing, people are going to squat. That is the reality. So, the NHT, the HAJ, or private developers, you have a task to move the developments much more quickly than we're doing.