HOPING to rescue Spanish Town from the two politically-aligned gangs that dominate the town, government has partnered with private sector bosses on a new company to gentrify the old capital and hopefully spurn economic alternatives for criminal recruits.

To be called the Spanish Town Redevelopment Company (SPARCOM), government will take a majority 51 per cent stake while private entities will take up the other 49 per cent.

A meeting at Jamaica House Friday to announce plans for the company suggested that there would be some foreign input in its start-up financing.

SPARCOM will refurbish the city’s mostly dilapidated historical architecture, transform Emancipation Square into a cultural tourism centre, see to the relocation of several civic institutions and the construction of new residences.

With the planned renewal, Spanish Town hopes to pull back from the extortionist grip of the One Order gang, said to be aligned to the Jamaica Labour Party, and Clansman, which has linkages with the ruling People’s National Party.

For more than a decade, the gangs have used strong arm tactics and murder to drive fear into the hearts of residents and businesses, to foster their lucrative extortion rackets.

Last September, Member of Parliament for Central St Catherine, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange and her entourage were fired upon by a gunman as they were leaving a ‘peace’ meeting with representatives of both gangs at council chambers, killing one man and wounding another.

Then, at the end of October, Spanish Town residents – many of them unemployed – rioted in the town in protest of the police killing of Clansman gangleader Donovan ‘Bulbie’ Bennett.

The year 2006, however, has brought new initiatives to rescue the town from criminals.

SPARCOM’s announcement comes on the heels of a $3-million donation by local cigarette manufacturers Carreras Group towards the creation of a Peace and Justice Centre – an arm of the Dispute Resolution Foundation.

SPARCOM itself, said Aubyn Hill, chairman of the National Investment Bank of Jamaica, will also seek out investments for Spanish Town.

“There are a lot of people out there with money to invest and they are looking. We have to see if we can get these people to invest in Spanish Town,” said Hill.

Cabinet is still to sign off on the company, but Hill says that SPARCOM intends to hit the ground running, once it gets the greenlight.

On Friday, plans were also announced for a Jamaica Inner-City Basic Services Programme, whose focus will be among other things, the upgrading of roads, drainage, water supply and sewage canals of communities within Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine.

This programme, which is currently under review by Parliament, is expected to receive approval in May of this year and is slated to run until June 2011.

davisv@jamaicaobserver.com