The Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) has given qualified support to the Government’s planned development of a so called “new city” on a portion of the Bernard Lodge lands in St Catherine.

“We need some statistics and some analysis before we put a definite yes or no, but it appears that the development will help a greater number of people and greater agricultural marketing and if that is the case the Jamaica Agricultural Society will support it,” JAS President Lenworth Fulton told the Jamaica Observer last Thursday following the official launch of the Gassan Azan-led Lakes Pen Agri-Venture which will involve the expenditure of $11 billion to establish an agricultural development on 400 acres of the Bernard Lodge lands.

Under the proposed master plan for the Government’s development, 2,500 acres of the 20,000-acre property would be used for residential and commercial purposes, with 3,500 acres being used for agricultural entities and a further 14,000 acres available for agriculture.

Critics of the proposal have questioned the wisdom of putting concrete on some of the country’s best agricultural lands and have urged the Government to consider less arable lands to establish what has been described as a “new city,” despite claims from Prime Minister Andrew Holness that it will not be a city.

But Fulton told the Sunday Observer that having been briefed on the details of the project the JAS has tentatively endorsed the plan while putting forward recommendations which he believes could make it even better.

“Our basic position in the JAS is that agricultural lands should remain in agriculture. However, there is an exception for Bernard Lodge and it needs a deeper analysis,” said Fulton.

“You have 300,000 people in the area of Portmore, St Catherine, and the question is whether a new city will enhance the chances of jobs and development for those 300,000 people.

“We have Kingston to the east which is decaying, Spanish Town to the north, which is also decaying. If there is going to be a new city would it be appropriate on the Bernard Lodge property or would it be better on Hill Run [St Catherine]? If it goes to Hill Run, will it give the same benefit to the Portmore community?” asked Fulton.

He argued that the Bernard Lodge development, with its light industries and other commercial facilities, could transform Portmore from being a dormitory community into one that will provide full services for its residents, and more jobs.

Fulton noted that much of the Bernard Lodge lands will remain in agriculture as he pointed to other sections of the property where concrete has already been poured.

“It was 33,000 acres of land and many of the houses you see in Portmore were Bernard Lodge property. So to come now and make a hullabaloo when the last 20,000 is there and a new city might be an important feature for all of us who live there needs greater analysis,” charged Fulton.

He argued that the Bernard Lodge development should include a state-of-the-art farmers’ market, a state-of-the-art hospital and in the case of the relocation of farmers, all efforts should be made to ensure that they are not disfranchised.

Fulton has also recommended that the remaining lands should be preserved for agriculture and that greater emphasis should be placed on the protection of the watershed.

The Water Resources Authority has already shifted from “no-build zone” to a “care build zone”, on the basis that no further approval should be granted for housing developments in the aquifer area and the Government should adhere to several provisions that it has implemented.

These include a provision that the developers would have to design and construct “permeable storm water treatment and storage systems to allow aquifer recharge, inclusive of detention ponds and swales”.