MONTEGO BAY, St James — Member of Parliament for St James East Central Edmund Bartlett has asked Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness for funding to support a major water project that would benefit more than 30,000 residents across nine communities in the constituency.

Bartlett, who is also minister of tourism, made the appeal last Friday during a tour of the housing development named in his honour, Edmund Ridge.

He noted that while the development is equipped with infrastructure for water and sewerage, it is part of a wider area that includes Rhyne Park, which has more than 1,000 houses; Rosedale, with 600-plus houses; and several established communities such as Cornwall, Palmyra, Paisley, Spot Valley, Zion, King Gate, Queen Hill, and Palm.

Bartlett stressed the importance of securing a reliable water supply for these areas.

“We are well on our way with the discussions. We just want to make sure that the budget is right and that the actual project starts. And therefore, we will no longer have a problem of water in this area, prime minister,” he added.

He noted that a pump commissioned by Holness in Barrett Town a week ago, which has the capacity to provide 1.5 million gallons daily, could be instrumental in supplying a massive tank already set up in the area.

“When we are able to get that water pumped into this 500,000 tank and then, by gravity, feed into the communities around, we would have solved that problem fully. So as we look at building out the urban centre that we talked about a while ago, it is about now… about making a complete community — housing, social, and physical infrastructure — and people… now able to develop their talents, their skills, their creativity to build out the strength of what true community is all about,” Bartlett told Holness as he brought greetings at Friday’s ceremony.

He later told the Jamaica Observer that the water project will augment the proposed Tourism Innovation Township for Rose Hall — which he has already discussed with the prime minister — that will provide the commodity to Barrett Town, Lilliput, Grange Pen, Long Bay, Barrett Hall, Greenwood, and Wiltshire.

Bartlett explained that economic development will be driven by 7,000 hotel rooms, including a casino, and provide between 15, 000 and 20,000 workers with jobs, directly and indirectly.

“The township will be absorbing the Barrett Town community and will see social infrastructure, governance, town centre, health and security, fire and an education campus. [There will also be a] commercial complex for shopping, entertainment and professional services,” he told the Observer.

He said these plans also include a service centre, education complex, health centre and police station.

“The concept of a circular economy will be the feature of this development model with the tourism sector feeding into the communities around and being fed by those communities. This will be an innovation, led by Jamaica, and will be a model for inclusive tourism in the Caribbean and arguably worldwide,” he added.

Bartlett revealed that he has already worked with the Urban Development Corporation to develop the design for the new urban centre, which is now being fine-tuned with support from new tourism investors in the area. He said the vision is timely and “will help transform the perception of tourism from an extractive industry to a more sustainable model”.

“It will be the new lease on life for a large dormitory community in suburban St James,” he said.