MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Even as business interests in this south-central parish anxiously await the completion of the US$188-million May Pen to Williamsfield leg of Highway 2000, two prominent leaders have expressed concern that the parish is nowhere near ready for the expected influx of traffic and commerce.

Manchester’s Custos Garfield Green, who is also a former president of the parish’s chamber of commerce and chairman of the Manchester Parish Development Committee Anthony Freckleton, say the parish needs planning and execution to remedy long-standing issues with water, traffic management, among other things.

“I don’t think we are ready as a parish for it. I see signs of us getting there, but clearly we are not ready,” Green said in reference to the influx of activities expected to come after the highway is completed.

Freckleton agreed and said that the parish needs to work on how it would become attractive for new investors.

“We are not at all ready. We are ready in spirit, because we want to have opportunities for the young people in the parish. We want to be able to have a vibrant local authority and we want to be able to attract a lot of new investors to our parish to enable all of this to happen,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday.

“We are sick and tired, really, as a parish of unplanned development. There are a lot of things that need to be done concurrently and consecutively to make this happen,” he added.

The highway, which is now 75 per cent complete, is fast advancing with it expected to be finished ahead of the March 2023 deadline.

The project — which will reduce travel time between Kingston, Mandeville and points west — was originally scheduled for completion in October 2022.

Green said the highway will drive economic growth, based on the geographical location of Manchester.

“There will be improvement in commerce across the parish, if we look at where Mandeville is located, it is almost the next major town outside of Kingston if you travel on the highway. I am expecting a lot more traffic to be coming into Mandeville,” he said.

His comments follows a story published in last Wednesday’s Observer, which highlighted that the highway is expected to drive the next big boom in Manchester following the downturn in bauxite.

President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce Simone Spence-Johnson had said that there is a need for new industries to boost economic growth, following the decline of the bauxite/alumina industry.

Down the years, south-central Jamaica depended on the bauxite industry, which had provided thousands of jobs prior to the closure of two refineries namely Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart at Nain in St Elizabeth and the now moth-balled Windalco Kirkvine alumina plant in Manchester.

The Kirkvine alumina plant, now owned by Russian aluminium conglomerate UC Rusal, was closed down in 2009 and has not resumed operations since, despite numerous indications of interest to do so by the company and former Government ministers of mining.

“We are really looking for Mandeville to be positioned for that next boom after bauxite in terms of the industrial age,” said Spence-Johnson.

Freckleton said any expectation of the issues affecting Manchester being addressed in the short-term is “unrealistic”.

“… Because our Government does not have enough fiscal space to respond to the needs of the parish to make it a seamless transition from depending solely on bauxite to a variety and diversifying our local economy here,” he said.

Green is concerned that traffic management and basic road safety infrastructure is lacking in Mandeville.

“We are not ready in regards to the traffic flow and management within the town of Mandeville, we are nowhere ready, if we were to see an increase in the flow of vehicular traffic, we would not be prepared to take it,” he said.

“We have to do something to improve traffic flow, parking, and pedestrian safety too. With increased business activity we are going to see an increase in pedestrian traffic also. We are not ready for that. I love to pay attention to very small things. We don’t have adequate sidewalks. We don’t have public sanitary conveniences for pedestrians,” he added.

Mandeville’s longstanding issue of congestion is expected to ease with the implementation of the Greater Mandeville Traffic Management System.

The $80-million project, which incorporates roads and intersections being widened and signalised, is expected to create a ring road around the town.

Green said the project has been long in coming.

“It has been years that they have a traffic management improvement system for Mandeville… We are not getting the attention that we need [and] deserve for development and growth,” he said.

He questioned the timing for the completion of the Greater Mandeville Water Supply Improvement, which successive governments have promised to address.

“Have we yet seen the improvements?” asked Green.

The Pepper well field, downslope at low altitude in St Elizabeth, is the main source of water for Mandeville, which is more than 2,000 feet above sea level, atop the Manchester Plateau.

Mandeville, and surrounding communities, have struggled with water shortage for decades, with town elders insisting over a period of many years that the problem has hindered growth.

He said the suggestion of rainwater harvesting for all households is not always affordable.

“Not everyone can afford it and become independent of the National Water Commission. NWC is there to serve the people. NWC themselves are losing a lot of water, if they can tackle the losses and cauterise it, maybe they will be in a better position to supply water to people who want water,” he said.

“Not everyone can afford a black drum and even if they can afford the black drum harvesting the water is another challenge. They have to put in a gutter system to collect the water,” he added.

Freckleton is calling for a land use policy to be developed to assist in the growth of Manchester.

“We are proposing that the preparatory work that needs to be done should include a collaboration with the National Land Agency, the municipal corporation, bauxite companies to come up with a land use policy for the parish,” he said.

He said the policy would greatly assist in the provision of commodities such as water.

“… Ensure that the areas are provided with enough water to sustain operations as well as solid waste management. The fire services as well we already know that we need a fire station in Mile Gully and one in Cross Keys,” he added.

Green commended the private sector for thinking ahead in the development of Mandeville.

“We can be thankful and grateful for the private developers. We are seeing the Sovereign Centre. We are seeing the business process outsourcing sector and what Proven [Investments] is doing. Look at how they are doing things,” he said in reference to three major construction projects ongoing in Mandeville.

“We have the Sovereign Centre people widening the road already for the entrance. They are thinking ahead. We have to be depending on them,” he added.

Freckleton reiterated his view that Mandeville Primary, and Manchester High should be relocated out of Mandeville to Albion, an area south of the town centre.

“We can’t just be thinking about the development of Mandeville as it is now if we don’t arrive at a consensus as to increasing the real estate available in Mandeville by negotiating the relocation of the two schools in the centre of the town to free up 15 acres of land then where is all this expectation going? Where are we going to accommodate it?” he asked.