Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment, and Sport Olivia “Babsy” Grange has announced that the multipurpose entertainment zone at Fort Rocky in Port Royal is in its final stages for completion.

Speaking at the media launch of the One Blood Family Fest at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel earlier in the week, Grange noted that tests are currently underway to see how sealift will be affected by the events.

“We’re almost there in having that venue available. Interestingly enough, we had to do one last thing. We had to do an impact assessment survey to see how the sound and the lights would affect the endemic species. NEPA [National Environment and Planning Agency] asked us to do that because the turtles come out and nest there, and we have to do a study. The study is going on right now; it’s an eight-week study to see how the sound and the light will affect the turtles when they come out to nest and the other endemic species,” Grange announced.

In 2017 Grange had declared Fort Rocky in Port Royal the country’s first entertainment zone.

She had also announced that permission was granted by the minister with responsibility for lands for her ministry to take possession of the run-down Jamworld Entertainment Complex in Portmore, St Catherine.

Last year, the entertainment minister also disclosed that several other venues were under consideration for designation as entertainment zones. These include the National Arena, Sabina Park, Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, as well as The Little Theatre in St Andrew. She said there was also a focus to include entertainment districts that already have a reputation for having activities in multiple venues in a compact geographical area.

In Montego Bay, St James, these include the Hip Strip, while in St Ann it includes the area from Fantasy Beach in Priory to Grizzly’s, and the Hip Strip in Negril, Westmoreland.

In January, conceptualiser of Rebel Salute Tony Rebel had made a plea for the development of more entertainment zones after Plantation Cove in St Ann was widely used for multiple shows over the Christmas period.

“From long time we’ve been saying we need more zones that can deal with entertainment. The Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium is not so active as we would’ve hoped. I popularised Grizzly’s and now everything is going there. It’s a nice venue because it’s right beside the sea. It has developed nicely where you can park 10,000 cars and it’s where the sea, land, and air meet but it would be good to have options,” he told the Jamaica Observer.