GOVERNMENT is working on a $50-million sustainable development plan for St Thomas that is expected to provide a road map for boosting economic growth in the parish which now bears the burdensome title of being the most impoverished in the island.

The plan, which should be ready in another two years, is now in the initial stage.

It is anticipated that the development plan will provide a platform for the development of infrastructure in the parish, health and wellness services, and the creation of jobs, mainly through investments in agriculture and tourism.

“The plan is just about being started; it will look at where we are now, where we plan to be in stages, and how we plan to get where we ought to be,” secretary manager of the St Thomas Parish Council Errol Greene told yesterday’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange.

“It would be the very first sustainable plan for St Thomas, which provides information on land use for the entire parish. It would also see where growth nodes can be accommodated, and how we can plan with the other partners to see how best development can take place in these places,” said parish manager for the Social Development Commission Lori Ann Peart Roberts.

The sustainable development plan is being funded by the National Housing Trust (NHT) and the Sugar Transformation Programme, in the sum of $10 million and $40 million, respectively.

Executive director of the Jamaica Diaspora Institute, Professor Neville Ying, who is working with the planning committee for the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Morant Bay uprising, said education is one of the main pillars of focus on the development agenda.

“Most importantly, we are centring the development around education, working with the ministry [of education] on the emphasis on the STEM subjects — science technology, engineering, and mathematics — but also the new generation subjects, like digital media, animation, entrepreneurship, sports, theatre arts. We want all of that to come together, because we see education as a very important driving force to develop the skills for employability. We see education as a very central part of the development plan,” Ying stated.

Greene, meanwhile, reported that the Ministry of Health has spent some $150 million on the refurbishing of the Princess Margaret Hospital in the parish. At the same time, under the centres of excellence programme, the Isaac Barrant Health Centre in Golden Grove, which also serves the neighbouring parish of Portland, was reopened last year, after some $32 million worth of upgrading.

Ying noted too, that the southern coastal highway, when it comes on stream, will be a major economic driver for the parish. The Government recently announced that financing for the estimated $1-billion corridor has been identified. Section one of the highway, which will link Kingston to Manchester, includes Harbour View to Port Antonio, beginning with the Harbour View to Morant Bay leg. Housing developments are already being mapped out in anticipation of the proposed highway.

Ying pointed also to the opportunities in tourism, which will come from the development of Stony Gut, the birthplace of National Hero Paul Bogle, as a heritage site; as well as the renewed interest in the Blue and John Crow Mountains, which was this year been inscribed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Prestigious World Heritage List. The inscription places the site among the ranks of historic monuments such as the Great Wall of China, and is the first World Heritage Site for the country.

The parish development stakeholders say the 18th century Bath Botanical Gardens also features greatly in the overall development of St Thomas as a heritage tourism parish.

Ying also noted the significant input of the Urban Development Corporation. “They are putting in a very big in-kind contribution, giving us the benefit of their business development unit, and their architects,” he said.

Also in attendance at yesterday’s Monday Exchange were Rev Norva Rodney, pastor Kitson Town circuit of Baptist churches, Ainsley Henriques, Chairman of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and Bobby Sephestine, chairman of the St Thomas Parish Development Committee