ST JAMES, Jamaica – Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced the Government’s intention to create a new urban space for Hanover to drive the future development of the parish.

Speaking at an Ecumenical Worship Service held at the St Mary’s Parish Church in Lucea on November 12 to kick-start celebrations for Hanover’s 300th year as a parish, Holness said the need to build a new town has become necessary to accommodate the bustling community that Lucea has become, noting that the town’s facilities are struggling to keep pace with its growth.

He pointed to issues such as the lack of sidewalks, insufficient parking and congestion that hinder the town’s progress.

“What I see here is a hustling and bustling town, and your facilities just can’t carry it. That’s just the reality, so we’re literally going to have to build a new town,” Holness said.

The prime minister proposed creating the new town away from the waterfront, while maintaining existing buildings as heritage sites for tourism and various other economic activities.

“We will have to leave the waterfront buildings intact, turn them into heritage sites, build tourism and other forms of economic activities around them,” Holness noted.

Citing the parallel with the ongoing transformation of St Thomas through a 25-acre Morant Bay Urban Centre, he said “we’re going to set St Thomas for the future, and we have to do the same thing here (Lucea)”.

The prime minister stressed the significance of public input in the process, asserting that consultations would be held to understand the views, fears and concerns of citizens.

He said that Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister (West), Homer Davis, has been appointed to spearhead the initial groundwork in collaboration with local stakeholders.

“It’s not for me to just stand on this platform and say we’re going to do it. We have to engage you because the politics of change, if not properly handled, can derail any good plan,” the prime minister said.

Holness also proposed the realignment of the main road into the parish to facilitate this growth, highlighting the challenges posed by climate change and the continued flooding of the low-lying town during heavy rains.

He noted that “from a strategic perspective” the realignment will increase the speed of connection and boost commerce for the parish.

“Part of the thinking now is how do we find a new alignment for the road. This new alignment would have to shift inwards and higher, so that we can be here a 100 or two hundred years from now to say that this road was well thought out,” the prime minister said.

He added that the time has come for the Government to take a deliberate and instrumental role in reshaping urban spaces to better serve its citizens.

“The cities and towns that we have are not serving the local needs of the population, and we have to build purpose-built urban spaces and facilities,” Holness said.

– JIS