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Edwin Wint, President of the Realtors Association of Jamaica has said the deal for the transfer of lands by the Government to Chinese investors as part of the North-South Highway development cannot be fairly assessed until the correct value of the exchange is made known.
It was revealed last week that in an attempt to offset the debt associated with operating the US$720 million highway, the government has agreed to hand over lands to China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).
There has been ongoing debate concerning the non-valuation of the lands to be transferred.
"There are certain principles involved that you should have done valuation, etc, which is a formal document. But having not done that, which I believe (is) the guideline, are we sure that we still didn't get value?" he questioned, suggesting instead that he would reserve his comments until the facts of the deal are made clear.
The government has so far earmarked 850 acres of land in Mammee Bay, St. Ann and Caymanas Estates in St. Catherine to hand over to the Chinese developers.
A further 350 acres is to be identified as part of the deal.
Learn from mistakes
Meanwhile, the Jamaica Civil Society Coalition (JCSC) has expressed concern that the country will lose more money and not fully benefit from major infrastructure projects unless it learns from its mistakes.
Carol Narcisse, Chairman of the Coalition, warned that the current controversy over the allocation of lands to Chinese developers is one such example.
"The arrangements - we are made to understand - is build, own, operate, which means we pay Chinese entities rentals for our government offices," she outlined.
This, she said, is being done without consideration for the possible negative effect it will have on the Jamaican economy.
According to Ms Narcisse, Jamaica will make the same mistake as in the past if the government continues with its plan to sign on to a memorandum of understanding without disclosing the details of such an agreement.
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