Montego Bay Development Plan Completed

The development plan for the city of Montego Bay in St. James, has been completed, while plans for the upgrading of the other resort areas of the island are in progress.
More than $200 million has been spent from the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) on the resort development plan, which aims to upgrade and improve the major resort towns, which, in addition to Montego Bay, include Ocho Rios St. Ann, Negril Westmoreland, and Port Antonio Portland.
The project will seek to identify options for new and expanded product development, based on the special natural and cultural resources of the identified areas; determine how resort offerings should be upgraded and diversified; and to improve the level of attractiveness or image of the resort areas. Infrastructure will be put in, which have aesthetic appeal, and can accommodate residents and visitors.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, speaking at Wednesday’s (July 1) post Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House, said that the plan for Montego Bay outlined the areas that need to be revised, restored and established.
“The Hip Strip is going to be the centre of focus. It is going to be something like a city walk…having a number of key entertainment areas and we are going to create facades and transform the area into products itself…that will become like a destination within that area,” he outlined.
The Montego Bay development project, he said, will require some US$144 million and funding will come from the TEF and private interests. “That US$144 million is not just our public funding. There is going to be a component for the private sector as the private sector is going to be the main beneficiary,” he stated.
In the meantime, some $200 million has been earmarked for the lighting of the Rose Hall area, with another $100 million for landscaping.
The undertaking, Minister Bartlett said, forms part of the Ministry’s plan to develop the elegant corridor from the Montego Bay Airport roundabout to Iberostar Hotel.
“What we are going to have there is something that Jamaica has never seen in terms of landscaping and the creation of another destination, a high-end destination. This is where the casino and the top-end products are going to be,” he said.