BELLEFIELD, Manchester — People’s National Party (PNP) aspirant for Manchester Central, Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell, has promised that if he is elected the next Member of Parliament for the constituency, and the party is given the nod to form Government, priority will be given to connect Porus directly to the May Pen to Williamsfield Highway.

Mitchell pointed to the recent interchange built at Freetown in Clarendon linking that area to the East-West Highway as an example of what can be done to connect the town of Porus to the highway.

“Comrade [Richard] Azan is the Opposition spokesman on roads and he promised me [that] like how they do out by Freetown, that we are going to make sure that we connect Porus to the highway, so that the people at Porus can… come off the highway and come into Porus, because you deserve the best. Porus is for us,” Mitchell told PNP supporters at the Bellefield divisional conference on Sunday night.

The May Pen to Williamsfield leg of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP) includes approximately 23 kilometres of a four-lane, arterial divided highway on a new alignment and approximately five kilometres of the existing Melrose Hill Bypass, now a four-lane, rural, arterial divided highway. It was opened in September 2023 but remains toll-free.

Motorists travelling westbound from Kingston towards Mandeville can exit the highway at Toll Gate to get to Clarendon Park and then continue to Porus, but residents and businesspeople have argued that option is not convenient.

In addition to access to the highway, Mitchell promised major infrastructure development in Porus, Bellefield, and adjoining communities.

“Everybody knows I love Porus. I love Porus like how Jesus loves little children and when I go down to Porus and I see the community centre there how it run-down and looks bad, we are going to fix it up. We are going to bring it to the pristine thing, because it is the Norman Manley Community Centre and he is from Manchester and we should make him proud,” he said.

Mitchell also announced a plan to turn Porus into a storage hub for businesses.

“We are going to build some storage facilities and businesspeople can put their things in storage and move it into the other parts of Manchester,” he said.

The PNP caretaker then turned his attention to housing developments and revealed that Opposition leader and PNP President Mark Golding has promised to prioritise two new housing developments in Manchester Central should the party regain the constituency and Government.

“I look at the lands in Content and I look at the lands between Blue Mountain and Top Coffee Grove and we have acres of land, and ‘Markie G’ promise, deliver central Manchester to him, and we will build two housing developments in this constituency so that the people of central Manchester can live a good and proper life,” said Mitchell.

In Bellefield, a traditional stronghold of the PNP, Mitchell promised to move Bellefield High School off the shift system.

“They promised us that they will take Bellefield [High] off the shift system and up until now they have done nothing. It is my commitment to you in Bellefield, because when I see the children have to wake up so early in the morning coming from up by Garlogie [near Clarendon] and when I see the children have to come out so early at 5:30 in the morning to reach school by 7:00 o’clock my stomach turn and I promise that when I win, we are going to take Bellefield High School off the shift system, so that your children can come to school and go home to their parents,” he said.

He also announced plans to turn Bellefield into a town.

“When I talk to the businesspeople in Bellefield square they say Bellefield needs a facelift. The shops need to be fixed up and we are going to make Bellefield into a new town, so that when you come up here you don’t want to leave Bellefield, because Bellefield is a nice place to live,” he said.

But Mitchell was less fervent in discussing plans for piped water in the constituency.

“I’m not promising Central Manchester, Bellefield, no pipe water… We are to repair those tanks. We are going to fill them with water. We are going to pipe them to people’s houses and make them have some water until the research is completed,” he said.

“We are doing the study and you can trust my word we are going to make it happen just wait a little longer,” added Mitchell.