NEGRIL, Westmoreland — President of the Negril Chamber of Commerce Richard Wallace has blasted the Government over what he says is the lack of infrastructural development and other worrying issues hindering the growth of the resort town.

“It is very disheartening when you hear announcements being made about billion-dollar projects happening in Montego Bay, Falmouth and other [areas] and you wonder, what about Negril? What is happening to Negril,” questioned Wallace.

He argued that since Negril contributes about 30 per cent of revenue earned by the tourism sector, any investment to upgrade the resort town is not a liability to the Government and its agencies.

According to Wallace, between January and October 2019, the resort town earned a little over half a billion US dollars. He added that over that period, Negril was the second-largest direct employer of tourism workers in Jamaica at 23.9 per cent or just over 12,000 employees.

“Negril is earning money for the country. So, why not spend some of that money in Negril?” questioned the chamber president.

According to Wallace, Negril’s famous seven-mile white sand beach resort destination is badly in need of infrastructure development, safety and security development, promotion and marketing.

“We have one of the top 10 beaches in the world and what are we doing with it? It is just sitting here. We need to pay attention to Negril and we have been advocating for that. We have been begging. We have been trying to get some attention for Negril and it is full time that we get it because Negril deserves it,” Wallace argued.

Noting that Negril is currently earning a fraction of its potential, the chamber president is calling for proposals to be sent in for funding to upgrade the resort town.

Wallace’s predecessors, Daniel Grizzle and Lee Issa, had made similar calls in recent years.

“We need leadership. People that are in the positions that need to facilitate these things, they need to step up. They need to act,” said a strident Wallace, who is also a hotelier.

“There are things that are to be done and they are not being done. And yes, it is leadership that is the problem down here. We need people who are supposed to be batting for Negril to really step up and bat for Negril.”

Local government is said to be one of the hindrances to the development of Negril. The constituencies of Hanover Western and Westmoreland Western share Negril with the commercial town located in Westmoreland and the majority of hotel rooms and larger and well-known hotels located on the Hanover side. As such the Hanover Municipal Corporation and the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation both have a role to play in the approval and development of projects in the town.

In 1984, the Negril and Green Island Area Local Planning Authority (NEGALPA) was created to assist in the development of the Negril.

But, Wallace, who is a board member of NEGALPA, is of the view that, “NEGALPA does not have the teeth to do what they need to do.”

“NEGALPA needs more legislation to do more for Negril. NEGALPA still has to go through the municipal corporations to get things done and that makes no sense,” he stressed.

He also cited harassment on Negril’s beach as one of the issues that needs to be addressed.

He pointed out that while the chamber is “not against such a service which provides food for a number of young men,” laws must be put in place to protect the tourism industry and Jamaicans alike.

Other issues the NCC would like addressed for the town are a larger sewage treatment plant; drain improvement works and measures implemented to end the erection of haphazard buildings.

Two years ago, Grizzle told a NCC grand gala and awards event that if the needs of the resort town are addressed, it could easily generate US$1 billion annually in revenue.

“One of the first things the Government and Jamaica at large have to realise is that we have unutilised assets here in Negril. We are generating US half-a-billion dollars right now, and I always say, we are easily capable of generating one billion US dollars with the room stock that we have now,” he argued.

Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Western Morland Wilson, in whose constituency a section of Negril falls, told the Jamaica Observer West that he agrees that “some emphasis needs to be placed on Negril.”

“However, I am also aware of the current constraints of budgetary allocation that the Government may have at its disposal, specifically, the Ministry of Tourism,” he stated.

Wilson reiterated that a project was recently announced in Parliament by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett “to bring its re-imagined project to Negril.”

“So, even outside of the minister’s plan, I as Member of Parliament, I am spearheading, and the chamber is fully aware of this, and is behind it, I am spearheading a few projects and is just awaiting approval for them to begin,” said Wilson, pointing out that Bartlett, the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) and other Government agencies are all aware, and are in agreement with those projects.

Wilson, who opted not to name “a substantial project” in the making, which he said will look at infrastructure in the town, argued that there are other smaller projects which were submitted from July of this year for approval.

“I was told that they were approved and tendered. So, we are waiting on that to fit in as well. They will also look at the rehabilitation of the sidewalks and the little breakaway areas in Negril. So, that is a smaller project that looks at the overall aesthetics of the area,” he explained.

The first-time MP, who won the seat on the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP’s) ticket in the September 2020 General Election, argued that “it is not just Negril but the entire constituency and the parish of Westmoreland by far that have been neglected.

“I inherited a constituency that was neglected and Negril is part and parcel of that neglect. So, it is not just Negril. We have the entire Westmoreland that was neglected. Our markets are neglected, our roads are deplorable, our water infrastructure has not been upgraded since the 80s, which has resulted in a shortage of water, [and] we also have electricity issues…so, as [a] Member of Parliament, what I will do is to identify them [the issues] and work on them one by one because we won’t be able to do it all at once, but we will just have to try and address [them] as we go along,” Wilson argued.