Prominent Montego Bay businessman Mark Hart is urging Government to ensure that the US$40 million project to improve the Montego Bay Port goes hand in hand concurrently with social infrastructural developments.

Hart made the call following the announcement last week by Dr Horace Chang, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, that the Port Authority of Jamaica will make the investment to transform the Montego Bay Port into a regional multi-purpose port.

“Ministers, you guys are going to be charged to not just go for the glitzy projects, because if we just put in the glitz and we don’t care for the basics, we will probably be in more problems at the end of the day,” said Hart, who is the CEO of Caribbean Producers Jamaica.

“So I am excited, but I really want to see a full approach to the development that is coming.”

The expansion of the port, will, among other things, improve berthing space to accommodate additional cruise vessels to facilitate the rapid growth of home porting in the tourism resort capital.

But Hart, who welcomed the development, remained adamant that it should be accompanied by social infrastructure.

“…The home porting is also a game changer. It provides more airlifts which will benefit the hotel sector and it is going to open up a lot of opportunities. But while all of this is fantastic, we really need to make sure that we put in the infrastructure to accommodate what is coming. The last thing we want to do is grow the city without the roads, without the housing. we need better schools, better health care,” Hart argued.

According to William Tatham, vice president for cruises, shipping and marine operations at the Port Authority of Jamaica, home porting which will move from five to seven for this cruise season, is even poised for further growth next year.

“Next year, we are anticipating nine,” Tatham said, adding that two of them will be year-round.

Although upbeat over the investment, the economic growth and job creation minister conceded that the added traffic congestion that the port investment will bring is an issue needing urgent attention.

“We have a challenge there, and the Government is examining that, of course, because the traffic density on the highway from the airport is extremely high. And therefore, as we expand we will have to look at how we ensure our traffic system can accommodate the increased economic activity which generates traffic. So we are moving to ensure that we find the funding for perimeter roads around Montego Bay and not just perimeter roads,” Dr Chang argued.

Meanwhile, Dr Chang, who is also Member of Parliament for St James North West, noted that the US$40 million investment at the port is in addition to the current implementation of the fuel terminal at the facility by New Fortress at a cost of US$175 million, which he stressed is “the first of its kind in the Caribbean”.