Dear Editor,

The new highway to be built by the Chinese company linking Jamaica's south to the north has at least three major development components which have not been publicised. The first leg of the highway will start at Caymanas and connect to the second leg in the Linstead area.

This alignment will have the highway passing close to the historic town of Sligoville. First, if the highway has an entrance and an exit into Sligoville, the unused stadium in Sligoville, built by the Chinese government as a gift to the Jamaican people, would have an extremely good chance to become a premier and profitable sporting facility. At present, the major problem with this stadium is not

This alignment will have the highway passing close to the historic town of Sligoville. First, if the highway has an entrance and an exit into Sligoville, the unused stadium in Sligoville, built by the Chinese government as a gift to the Jamaican people, would have an extremely good chance to become a premier and profitable sporting facility. At present, the major problem with this stadium is not

the lack of good roads to get there. The Sligoville stadium has the development possibilities that does not exist at any other sporting facility in Jamaica, including the cool climate and space for expansion. Second, Sligoville's historical significance could be developed. This town was the first village developed for the newly emancipated enslaved Africans in Jamaica in 1838.

The artifacts that exist in and around the town can be items to see and therefore be part of our tourism product. Third, one of the most significant religious developments since the birth of Christ is the birth of the Rastafari religion. It is the only internationally recognised religion that is playing a significant cultural role in Jamaica and other parts of the wider world.

Leonard Howell, the acknowledged founder of this religion, set up in the Sligoville area his first Rastafari community named Pinnacle. Pinnacle was destroyed but the site and the religion live on. It would be a major tourism product, similar to Bethlehem of Judea, if access to Pinnacle could be made available. If the highway is built with access to Sligoville from both the north and south coasts, this interior part of our country would have endless possibilities for growth and development of this area of Jamaica.

Louis Barton

Portmore, St Catherine

muendaobike@yahoo.com