The Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) is moving ahead with its integrated business park in Portmore with an undisclosed private partner. Dara Smith, marketing and communications manager with the government agency, said Thursday that the Naggo Head Integrated Business Centre project is still in the conceptual planning stage, adding,”We have received the requisite approvals which would allow it to [be] present to Cabinet for consideration.”

This project entails the development of 34 acres of land in Naggo Head, Portmore, St Catherine. In its latest update, also delivered December 21, the FCJ said that the centre with a proposed 825,000 square feet of space targets the growing global services sector and other productive sectors.

The new project design represents an expansion of 75,000 square feet. Originally the project was designed for a 750,000 sq ft of space and entitled the Naggo Head Technology Park. Now, it is conceptualised as a commercial business centre.

In its December 2022 update, the FCJ said that zone one will comprise “over 400,000 square feet will be the home to BPO facilities, executive residences for BPO, a media centre, educational institutions and other commercial facilities to provide support services.”

Zone two, which will be otherwise called the industrial zone, will be home to warehouse-type buildings that can be easily outfitted to match the needs of light manufacturing and agro-processing entities.

The FCJ stated, “The complex will be eco-friendly, boasting water harvesting and PV systems, large pedestrian walkways and soft vegetation intertwined with sharp façade lines.”

The park will be supplemented with 519 parking spots, 28 bus parking spaces for shuttles and drop-off points and requisite loading bays.

The corporation said both zones will feature “modern architectural designs, anchored by a lush central green park”.

Works started in 2017 when the FCJ completed infrastructure works including paving of roads leading into the development, sewer and drainage works for the first phase and completion of the procurement process to select the design consultant.

In 2020 a decision was made to postpone the development of the Naggo Head Technology Park until after the construction of the Morant Bay Urban Centre.

A new design for the Portmore project was concluded in January 2022, with a focus to “fulfill the growing industrial needs and the further development of the city of Portmore.”

In November 2022 a joint venture agreement (JVA) for the construction of the development was signed between FCJ and a private partner. The project awaits Cabinet presentation and approval.

In 2019 the projected cost for the Naggo Head Tech Park, as it was then called, was US$75 million ($9.5 billion).