BOUNDBROOK, Portland — Prime Minister Andrew Holness says plans are under way for a US$75-million ($11.78 billion) bypass for Port Antonio that will hug scenic hills from St Thomas to Portland after leaving the hustle and bustle of the town centre behind. It’s part of a broader vision that includes the $4.2-billion Boundbrook Urban Centre — for which ground was broken on Wednesday — as well as an ambitious development plan for the Port Antonio waterfront.

“We are also developing, as I speak, a bypass for Port Antonio that will…go through the hills for US$75 million,” Holness told those gathered for the ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday.

In his 2022/23 budget debate presentation, he had indicated that construction of the bypass was approved and would begin in the 2023/24 financial year. This is the first time he has spoken of its price tag. He said the project “is at public investment approval [stage]”.

The idea is to route traffic in an efficient way that will alleviate congestion.

“That road will take off much of the traffic that is not here for sightseeing; [that] is not here to go into the town — they want to get about their business. Those can take the bypass road. But that bypass road is built for resilience, because we have moved it off the shore, and therefore we are giving the town of Port Antonio the opportunity to breathe,” Holness explained.

“That bypass road will ultimately continue through the hills and connect to the 14 kilometres of road between Yallahs and Harbour View. You’re going to have essentially two roads. One: the main road that will carry heavy traffic, heavy volume, get it to where you’re going quickly. And [the other is] the more scenic route — that is for the tourism economy, which we intend to develop — coming all the way from St Thomas, coming all the way around into Port Antonio. That’s the vision; that’s a long-term strategy, and every year we are building towards it,” he added.

The prime minister said having built the road network needed to propel Portland’s tourism market forward, there would be a need to have buildings that are also “built for purpose”. He said similar to projects at Bernard Lodge in Portmore and in Morant Bay, the Boundbrook Urban Centre will facilitate orderly development.

“It will have the municipal building; it will have other government entities, plus private facilities. It will be linked with the courthouse and, I believe, with the [motor vehicle] examination depot. I believe you have some more lands that you’re looking to develop, but there is, my friends, a master plan. So this is not a chaka chaka development,” he said with a smile.

The prime minister said this need to ensure that development was done in an orderly way had meant that the project took longer than his Administration had wanted. One of the factors that pushed it back was the engagement of the services of “a world famous architect and urban developer”.

“His name is Gordon Gill, a Jamaican. This is a man who has done designs for new cities in China and Saudi Arabia, Toronto, Dubai and he’s saying, ‘I want my country to look like these places’,” said Holness.

“We brought him in, and they have done a massive development plan for the entire waterfront of Port Antonio, specifically looking at the lands owned by the Port Authority, the UDC (Urban Development Corporation) and other government entities. Portland is set for massive developments, but they’re not going to be high-intensity, high-density development. No, we specifically want to avoid that. We are going for high-value, low-density development, including the development of the East Harbour into a cruise shipping port. All of that is being planned. So we are not just doing one little development and expect that one little development to spark and be the catalyst for new development. No, we have a well-thought-out, coordinated plan backed by the resources to sustain long-term infrastructure investment without interruption. That is what is different,” he said in making the distinction between what his Administration is doing and what has been done by those before.

Work on the 148,000-square-foot Boundbrook Urban Centre, a blend of industrial and commercial activity, is being done by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). It is being spearheaded by Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) in collaboration with Barita and NCB Capital Markets Limited. According to FCJ Chairman Lyttleton “Tanny” Shirley, it will provide about 2,000 jobs. In addition to the Portland Municipal Corporation, the tax office and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, the urban centre will house fast food outlets. It has a September 2026 completion date.

The FCJ also has a hand in creating similar urban centres across Jamaica. These include the Morant Bay Urban Centre in St Thomas, as well as projects planned for Old Harbour in St Catherine, and Negril, Westmoreland.

Pointing to these projects as well as the under construction Montego Bay bypass, the east-west highway from May Pen to Mandeville and Portmore’s recently opened Resilience Park, Holness challenged his critics to name a time when there was so much development happening in the country at the same time.

“It is an obtuse and perverse logic that a government that is doing what it’s supposed to be doing is being criticised,” he argued.

The prime minister and leader of the Jamaica Labour Party continued, “A lot of people feel it’s politics time. I don’t ready for politics time yet. We will campaign on our record of performance. And what I am busy doing is building, building building…We are the Government that is building Jamaica. We understand infrastructure, and this project will not be the last one!”