WESTERN BUREAU — A joint venture comprised of businessman Winston Dear, Delapenha’s Funeral Home and the Mark Kerr-Jarrett-led Barnett Estates Ltd is now awaiting outline approval from the St James Parish Council that would give them the go-ahead to establish a $148-million cemetery on the outskirts of Montego Bay.

The cemetery, which will also house a parking lot, chapel and crematory, will be located close to the exiting Pye River cemetery.

“We think it’s a lovely site and the location is a convenient one,” Dear told the Observer. “Now we just have to wait and see what the parish council says, if they’ll approve it.”

After preliminary approval is granted, he said, the architectural plans will be completed, and an environmental impact assessment will be done.

“That should take about six months, and then we can move after that,” he estimated. “I’m excited about the project. It should do well as a business venture, as well as meet the community’s needs.”

There has long been talk of the state establishing another cemetery in the Retirement area, on council-owned lands, to ease some of the burden on the almost full Pye River facility. But after years of being mooted, that project is still awaiting an environmental assessment.

Unlike Kingston, there are no privately-operated burial sites in Montego Bay, so the proposed venture would mean the business partners and the council would be in uncharted waters.