Dust nuisance and a variety of other annoyances have been much in the news in regards to ongoing highway construction in St Thomas.

Yet, all indications are that not too long from now the residents of Jamaica’s most eastern parish will be reaping rich rewards.

There can be no question that the new highway has largely motivated the reported strong interest by private sector companies in the multi-billion-dollar Morant Bay Urban Centre.

According to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the project is scheduled for “practical completion by September of this year”.

An Observer story of April 12 tells us that private businesses to be housed at the business complex will include St Thomas’s first-ever Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant, a National Commercial Bank building, a call centre, and a Hi-Lo supermarket.

There will be a new municipal corporation building, a new courthouse, and space for other government agencies in St Thomas, we are told.

Education and training will be represented with “purpose built” facilities for the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) and HEART/NSTA Trust institute.

The prime minister notes that, in addition to providing employment and economic opportunities, the Morant Bay Urban Centre will reduce need for locals to travel to Kingston.

Located on 28 acres of land that decades ago accommodated a Goodyear tyre factory, the complex will be, according to Mr Holness, “a new economic engine” in St Thomas, and a “model” replicated across the country.

There was more good news this week with the tourism sector
— bolstered by the new highway
— reiterating its interest in embracing the eastern parish as a major destination.

According to Tourism Minister Mr Edmund Bartlett, the plan for St Thomas is a “less dense-type of tourism… with more environmentally friendly arrangements” than have prevailed in Jamaica’s traditional visitor hotspots.

“It is the higher [luxury] end of [the] tourism product that is going to be in St Thomas,” Mr Bartlett is quoted by this newspaper as saying. Investment partners are now being sought, according to the minister.

We hear of a Tourism Development and Management Plan which estimates that St Thomas will need a total investment of US$746 million, with private investment amounting to US$508 million.

The Observer’s business desk tells us that, as part of Jamaica’s 2030 development plan, “[T]he tourism ministry is targeting the creation of 4,170 new rooms, visitor spend of US$244 million, with tax contributions of US$22 million from St Thomas. In 2018 some 5,775 tourists stayed in the parish, but the Government is aiming to attract 230,000 overnight tourists by 2030.”

We are reminded that St Thomas is home to about 33 natural and cultural assets, including Blue Mountain Peak, Reggae Falls, Bath Fountain and Hotel, Morant Point Lighthouse, and Lyssons beach.

There is also the fascinating story of the Paul Bogle-led Morant Bay insurrection around which visitor interest should escalate in the years to come.

But, as we all know, much can go wrong without adequate thought, proper planning, and an insistence on good order.

In that respect, we welcome Mr Bartlett’s assertion that St Thomas as a tourist destination will be developed in an “organised and structured way”.

Like all well-thinking Jamaicans, we will watch with great interest.