MONTEGO BAY, St James — The redevelopment plan for the town of Falmouth, Trelawny is to be completed and gazetted by the end of this year. Director of surveying at the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Shardon Haye, has said that the draft plan is being reviewed by the UDC, and that the process should be completed by July 30.

"At that stage we will engage in an external review with all our stakeholders, including the Trelawny Parish Council," Haye told the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).

"That external review, we anticipate, will take two months, and the full plan should be completed for gazetting before the end of the year," he said.

Haye was tabling a report on projects being implemented in the parish by the UDC at the monthly meeting of the Trelawny Parish Council in Falmouth last Thursday.

He mentioned that the Falmouth Police Station, being constructed by the Engineering Unit of the Jamaica Defence Force, should be completed by September of this year, as projected. He also mentioned the rehabilitation of Cornwall Street, the provision of directional signs and traffic control systems in the town, and the establishment of a link road between Cornwall and Duke streets.

He said that funding for the three projects has been secured, and the National Works Agency (NWA) will undertake the work.

Haye also pointed out that infrastructural improvement will be made to the temporary bus park in the town. That project, he said, is scheduled to begin within two months. It will include cleaning drains, covering manholes, constructing sidewalks and food courts.

Last month, Attorney General and Member of Parliament for North Trelawny, Patrick Atkinson announced that the historic town was to undergo a $500-million beautification and rehabilitation programme with monies from the Petro-Caribe oil agreement with Venezuela.

According to him, plans are also in the pipeline to relocate the commercial centre of the North Coast town to a site further north, along Market Street. He pointed out that the market will be removed and rebuilt, and a transportation centre will also be constructed.

It is hoped that the relocation will attract new businesses in Falmouth, which has seen a boom in commercial activity since the construction of the cruise mega-liner pier a year ago.

— JIS