Work Underway on Morant Bay Urban Centre

Preparation work on the $6 billion Morant Bay Urban Centre project in St. Thomas has now commenced and is expected to advance in the coming month.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, toured the site on Thursday (July 14) and observed demolition exercises at the old Goodyear Factory in the parish, where the centre is being constructed.

“I’m very pleased to see, finally, that work has started,” Mr. Holness said. “We have been very careful to put together a development project that is viable, sustainable and meaningful,” he noted.

Throughout his tour, the Prime Minister was shown construction plans and designs for the project by the Factories Corporation of Jamaica, major partners, and other key stakeholders.

When completed, the Centre will accommodate the parish’s municipal corporation, government entities, business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, a university and other structures. An estimated 3,000 new jobs are expected to be created from the development.

Prime Minister Holness noted that the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP), which involves the development of the major roadway throughout the parish, will bring “new flows of interest” that will directly pour into the Urban Centre.

“This will become the home and the centre around which those interests will coalesce. The development push will be along this corridor and I’m certain that this project will become the centre of activity for the parish,” the Prime Minister said.

He identified the flow of traffic as an area in which attention must be placed, to ensure that the much-needed development will not bring about any inconveniences, noting that he has had discussions with the National Works Agency (NWA) in this regard.

Chairman of the FCJ, Lyttleton Shirley, in his remarks, noted that currently, the over 400,000 square feet property is heavily vegetated and needs to be properly graded (make the ground level) for construction to begin.

He indicated that work is also being done to reduce the threat of flooding. “By next month, you will be seeing real block and steel coming out of the ground when the preparation work is completed,” Mr. Shirley said.

Construction of the Morant Bay Urban Centre is expected to provide employment to more than 200 workers in the first phase of the project.

Some 80 per cent of this labour force will be Jamaicans who reside in the area, as required under the contract with China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC).

In his tour on Thursday, the Prime Minister was joined by Members of Parliament for St. Thomas Eastern and St. Thomas Western, Dr. Michelle Charles and James Robertson, respectively; Mayor of Morant Bay, Councillor Michael Hue; Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda; and other public and private sector interests.