IRWIN, St James — Ed Bartlett’s St James East Central constituency now has the potential to grow even further with the keys being handed out to owners of the 144-unit Unions Acres project in Irwin.

Bartlett told 50 people who received their house keys during a ceremony on Wednesday that they should “be nice” to Prime Minister Andrew Holness and even treat him better, then jokingly said, “Wherever you come from, you belong to me now.” , new MP.

If not registered to vote in East Central St James, those voters will need to visit the Jamaica Electoral Office’s office to transfer their vote before they can vote for Bartlett or his opponent.

PD currently has 1,500 registered voters before new voters from Unions Acres are added, according to the lawmaker. He can’t wait for it to grow.

“Hurry up, come on over and let’s add some more and convince everybody that there’s actually no greater producer than this,” Bartlett said, continuing the joke and causing some audience members to chuckle.

Bartlett has been the MP for the constituency since 1993 after moving from St Andrew.

During Wednesday’s service, he spoke about the significance of the growth Irwin has seen in recent years and the broader implications for the congregation.

“The development of this area will enhance the expanding dormitory community that the Irwin area represents not only in Saint James but in the country,” he noted.

One of the toll gates of the highly anticipated Montego Bay Freeway will be located near Unions Acres, a gated community of one- and two-bedroom homes. The 31 two-bedroom homes are advertised for $16 million to $16.5 million. The smallest parcels are 3,078 square meters.

It took some time for the project to get underway after developer Can Cara provided more funding for the project, with Holness breaking ground on the project in 2022. Work is still ongoing on some homes and on Sunday Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd. Poles were placed by. Before Wednesday’s ceremony, the pace of work on the perimeter wall was accelerated and efforts were made to use soil and marl. filling huge potholes on the road leading to the neighborhood.

In his speech, Bartlett talked about the need for homebuyers to work together to make this place a true community.

“These houses built here are just monuments made of blocks and steel. They have little value unless occupied by humans, and humans are valuable only if they form communities. “If they have common values, if they act together, if they develop strong relationships, if they can respond to each other, if they care about each other, if they care for each other and if they protect each other,” he called.

“I’m excited to help you create these crucial attributes for building community, and as your member of parliament, I can say that we will join with you to ensure that we make Unions Acres the best community in all of Irwin. Initially all of St James and then all of Jamaica,” he added Bartlett.

He thanked the National Housing Trust (NHT) for the support provided and said he looked forward to future developments in his constituency.

“I am very honored to say that you have delivered over 3,000 units to your constituency and you have another 1,500 units to deliver shortly,” the MP said.

Bartlett continued: “I look forward to breaking ground with you on Barrett Hall and Spot Valley and if we did that you would have delivered 5,000 to the East Central St James constituency.”

Unions Acres is a collaboration between NHT, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) and the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA). The aim is for a further 3,531 homes to come on the market in St James over the next few years.

“We have 86 units in Canterbury under the Community Regeneration Programme. They will be ready in February 2025 (work begins) and in August 2026. The 180 units at Comfort, also under the Community Renewal Program, start in June 2025 and will be ready in August 2026,” Holness said at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Other projects include Golden Horn Phase Two, which will deliver 936 units. The joint venture project, launched in August 2019, is expected to be completed in March 2026. An additional 217 units will be built at Adelphi under NHT’s Guaranteed Purchase Program (GPP) starting in April 2025, with a planned completion date of September 2028.

“Brookside Estates in Spot Valley will have 403 units, also under our GPP Program. This will start in December this year and be completed in September 2026. Barrett Hall, under the Developers Scheme, is due to start in March 2025, meaning 1,565 units. This should be ready in February 2029,” Holness added.

He said that of the 43,000 homes to be built across the country, 9,837 would be built in Western Jamaica.