Afuture People’s National Party (PNP) Government will unveil what it calls the “Portia Initiative” in celebration of Jamaica’s first female Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller.

The programme will target the orderly renewal and transformation of infrastructure in all areas.

PNP President Mark Golding made the announcement on Sunday as he addressed the public session of party’s 86^th annual conference at the National Arena in St Andrew.

“This programme will drive policies that ‘Sista P’ (Simpson Miller) stood for – improving infrastructure in old housing schemes; tearing down zinc fences in communities and replacing them with concrete walls, completing the infrastructure and land titling for existing land tenure regularising schemes, and rolling out new ones to bring hope and decent living conditions in areas of social neglect,” Golding explained.

He said: “Our beloved Sista P will smile as the next PNP government improves sidewalks for persons with disabilities, provides housing assistance to needy citizens, and beautifies communities where our people live”.

Additionally, a future PNP Administration will undertake a comprehensive review of all laws relating to housing to find ways to make housing more affordable for all Jamaicans.

“These initiatives are all about balancing books and people’s lives, something that Sista P always spoke about and believed in,” said Golding as he argued that Jamaica must emerge from an economy characterised by low growth, low wages, low technology and low productivity.

“To do that we must choose change,” he told comrades.

Golding also stated that a future PNP government will, from day one, restore the core mandate of the National Housing Trust (NHT).

“We will stop the extraction of funds from the NHT. We will return to providing affordable houses for our people,” Golding, who is also Opposition leader, declared.

Golding said the next PNP government will also make lands available to the NHT for qualified contributors so that they can build their own homes.

Outlining an economic model that he said will benefit the majority and not just a few, Golding said:“change means enabling families to own land and afford proper housing”. He argued that land and housing are fundamental development priorities.