PM To Open Harmony Beach Park Friday

The public will soon have access to the Harmony Beach Park, formerly the Closed Harbour Beach Park, in Montego Bay.

A virtual opening ceremony will be held on Friday, May 21, beginning at 2:00 p.m., with Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, to deliver the keynote address.

The event will be streamed live on the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) YouTube channels and Facebook pages.

General Manager of the UDC, Heather Pinnock, told JIS News that the agency is looking forward to the opening.

“It will be at a scaled-down pace at first, but we really don’t want to keep it closed from the people anymore,” she noted.

She indicated that the park was previously scheduled to open in March.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  However, due to the additional restrictions brought on by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the opening had to be postponed.

“From in March we started taking down the zinc hoarding. So, the people of Montego Bay have been seeing and not been able to go in,” said Ms. Pinnock, adding that “we have been looking forward to being able to hand over this project”.

She informed that although the park will be declared open on Friday, persons will not be able to utilise the facility until Tuesday (May 25) at which time only the lawns, grounds and jogging trail will be available for use.

“As our situation improves and our restrictions are rolled back, then we will be able to open the beach as well. So the beach will not be open to the public when we open at this time,” she noted.

Ms. Pinnock said that groups of fewer than 10 persons can call the UDC to book a tour of the facility to see the spaces available and how it can be used when the park fully opens.

The Harmony Beach Park is UDC’s flagship project and is reflective of the Government of Jamaica’s (GOJ’s) thrust to expand green spaces in urban areas. The beach park was constructed by M&M Contractors to the tune of $1.3 billion through the support of primary funding partner, the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF).

Other funding partners include the GOJ and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Ground was broken for the start of the project in February 2019.