CROSS KEYS, Manchester — People’s National Party (PNP) aspirant for Manchester Southern Peter Bunting says if he is elected his vision project is to restore mined-out lands in the constituency and turn the near 30-kilometre coast road from Alligator Pond to Milk River into a community tourism zone.

Bunting made the promises in an address to PNP supporters on Sunday at the party’s Grove Town divisional conference at Cross Keys High School.

“Billions of dollars have been mined-out in bauxite. Right now, most people not even getting the little nuisance money. Farmers… told us a week or two ago that all of their crops and lands, regardless of the size, is $17,000 they get — and there are mined-out pits all across this constituency and in Central Manchester as well. The mining was done decades ago and they are still not rehabilitated yet. We demand economic justice for the people affected,” he declared.

In relation to the Alligator Pond to Milk River coast road, Bunting said he intends to focus on community town development similar to what exists in Treasure Beach in south St Elizabeth.

“We are going to commission a development plan… we want the coast road from Alligator Pond back to Milk River to be rehabilitated and to become a sector for community tourism in Manchester,” he said.

“That is what I refer to as my vision project. Treasure Beach has shown us how community tourism can benefit the people that live in St Elizabeth, and we want to do the same for the people of South Manchester by developing that whole coast road in an ecofriendly way. Small villas, Airbnb opportunities, ecotourism attractions,” added Bunting.

In January 2014 then Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeill had promised to revisit and develop areas such as Gut River on the Alligator Pond to Milk River coast road.

Gut River bubbles to the surface at the base of steep limestone hills in Manchester Southern, just upland from the coastline.

No more than a gentle stream during the dry months, it sets a purposeful course for the wide open sea down below.

Then, as if delaying the inevitable, it coyly takes a left, running parallel to the breaking surf for a few hundred metres through low, soft sand banks, before gifting its fresh, cooling water to Long Bay.

For visitors, especially those coming for the first time, the pure unspoilt vision is heart-stopping.

“I have to come back to this place,” McNeill was heard to say. At that time he was leading a high-profile, fast-moving tour of undeveloped or under-developed tourism “areas of interest” in the south coast parishes of Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth.

However, the promise was not kept.

The coast road is now in need of extensive repair and has been narrowed due to overgrown bushes on both sides of the road.

Bunting said he plans to make ecotourism development his main initiative.

“We want there to be developed into a thriving source of economic growth for south Manchester… We will commission the study on it as a first priority when you elect me when time come,” he told Comrades.