CITY planners and administrators have embarked on an ambitious project to transform Montego Bay into a technology-managed municipality that will, through sustainable development and investment, improve infrastructure and the lives of residents and visitors.

The ‘One Bay For All’ project, as it is named, is being implemented under the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) emerging and sustainable cities initiative (ESCI).

According to Trevion Manning, director of planning at the St James Parish Council, the design for Montego Bay was developed over the past two years using a combination of previous plans submitted by various State agencies and other stakeholders in the city regarded as Jamaica’s tourism capital.

“The Urban Development Corporation, Planning Institute of Jamaica, the Ministry of Local Government, the Chamber of Commerce, the Railway Corporation and the parish council, we sat and focused on five main areas — disaster mitigation and the vulnerability of the city, public safety, employment and training, urban development planning, and transportation and sanitation,” Manning told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

“Everything was thrown into the pot, and the IDB brought down their technocrats and came up with what is now the One Bay For All [project],” Manning added.

“The design has been done, and now we need US$18 million to implement an Integrated Operation Control Centre (IOCC) for Montego Bay,” he added.

Manning explained that the IOCC will allow the city’s administrators to deal with crime, traffic and disaster management and mitigation.

“What it is, is using technology to manage your city,” he said, adding that the use of CCTV technology is a main feature of the system.

For instance, cameras with licence plate and face recognition capabilities will be mounted at intersections. In addition, public parking areas will be equipped with cameras and sensors, so too will gullies in order to warn city managers of potential dangers, such as when water levels are rising.

Manning said that the IDB got the Korean government to sponsor the IOCC which will be set up inside the parish council building.

The methodology used by the ESCI to develop sustainable cities involves five phases:

* A diagnostic analysis of the city using a set of indicators obtained from interviews, research, meetings and base studies;

* Prioritisation of the needs identified through public opinion, discussions with stakeholders, economic impact and environmental sustainability;

* Formulation of the action plan;

* Pre-investment; and

* Monitoring.

Asked to give a timeframe on the entire project, Manning suggested that it would take up to 10 years, as it encompasses short, medium and long-term plans. He also said he could not give the total cost of the overall development, as the spend would vary, given that some of the works will be done under private/public partnerships.

He said that improvement work on the Charles Gordon Market is one of the short-term projects set to begin and be completed in this financial year.

“The IDB has earmarked US$600,000 for design and prep work in terms of the planning and design,” he said.

“We have got clearance from the Ministry of Finance to move ahead with that.”

The ‘One Bay For All’ project also includes an integrated waterfront park and coastal zone management plan that will see the establishment of a walkway along the coast so people will be able to walk from bottom road coming through Dump Up beach and going along,” Manning explained.

“The plan also clearly states that the Dump Up land, which is owned by the UDC, will be where we will create our version of Emancipation Park,” he added.

The creation of green spaces along the coast, as well as a downtown housing programme to include the transformation of the Railway Lane squatter community, as well as the revitalisation of historic landmarks in the city are included in the plan.

Manning said the council has already met with people living in the squatter communities and has given them a commitment that the land will be turned over to them.

“So they have been organising themselves into a provident society and working with us so that we can put them into a formal community,” he said.

Asked whether the plan will be able to survive if there is a change of government, Manning said yes.

“There is buy-in from both sides, because from we started from day one, all the members of parliament were on board,” he said.

Hotelier Josef Forstmayr agreed.

“It’s a continuation of the plans you have seen over the years,” he said. “I think it’s a natural progression and hopefully now that there’s funding there will be some pressure put on it to make it come to fruition quicker.”

Manning also pointed to the fact that it is being funded by the IDB and, as such, the Government had to sign to it.

“So it is a total commitment from the Government, not any political party,” he said.

Government parliamentarian Lloyd B Smith suggested that the ‘One Bay For All’ project should include a component for community sensitisation.

“The plan itself must not only speak to what is going to take place, but what will be the opportunities that they as citizens will have to buy into it economically or otherwise,” said Smith, who represents the St James Central constituency.

Manning and Chamber of Commerce President Gloria Henry assured Smith that a public awareness campaign was part of the plan, stating that it was already estimated that US$40,000 would be needed for that.