JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) leader Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has promised major developments for Portland if his party is elected to form the Government when Jamaicans return to the polls.

Holness on Sunday indicated that he was days away from announcing the date for the next general election, even as he declared that the JLP has not officially started its campaign.

In a stump speech at a gospel concert — which also served as a JLP workers’ meeting and award ceremony in Portland Western — Holness announced that a JLP Government would be providing more than 1,300 affordable houses for the people of Portland and has plans for the transformation of Port Antonio into a new tourism capital.

“Tonight, when I tell you that we are going to build in this parish in the next few years, 1,395 housing solutions, you can believe and trust in that because you have seen the work of the Jamaica Labour Party. Already we are well down the wicket with 600 of those units in Woodstock. In Passley, we have started the planning for 795 housing units. These will be affordable housing solutions that the people who are gathered here and the people who have ambition to own their own home can aspire to this,” Holness told hundreds of cheering Labourites.

“I also want to say to you that you can have confidence that the Boundbrook Urban Centre will be completed. We have started it, and you have seen the Morant Bay Urban Centre that we have built and how that is transforming St Thomas, but we have more plans for your parish. There have been many attempts to put in and develop a proper cruise ship pier in Port Antonio, [but] we are not just looking to develop the cruise ship pier,” added Holness.

He told the Labourites that what his Government is doing, through the Port Authority of Jamaica, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), and the Factories Corporation of Jamaica, is to hire an international urban planner and architect to develop a plan for the water front in Port Antonio.

“We are going to turn Port Antonio into the new tourism capital, not just in Jamaica, but the tourist capital of the Caribbean. Some say Caribbean tourism started right here in Port Antonio and, therefore, it is only right that Port Antonio gets what is called a renaissance, a redevelopment of the town.

“To make that happen, you would have known that a few weeks ago we broke ground for the Port Antonio by-pass. We are doing the by-pass because we need to open up more lands so that we can develop more housing for the people. Yes, the by-pass will take some of the traffic out of the town and decongest the town and make the town easier to move in. The real purpose of the by-pass is to open up more lands for housing development,” said Holness.

According to the prime minister, Jamaicans can have full confidence that everything his Administration does is well thought out and efficiently executed.

He further declared that the JLP is the best option to move Jamaica forward and continue the “journey of prosperity”.

“Whether it is improvement in your public transportation, housing, in your community safety and security, water and roads, energy costs that you face, your general infrastructure, this Government is the best option for the people. Our campaign theme is ‘Choose Jamaica’. Choose what is best for you, your family, for your community and your country. The only choice you have, my friends, is to choose the Jamaica Labour Party,” he said.

“We have not yet officially started our [election] campaign, but I gather that the other people say they are tired. When you hear them say, ‘Call it Andrew, call it,’ it is not because they believe they can win. Dem just tired and want to get it over and done with. I can run race. I don’t have a problem with that. You know that physically I can do my thing. I got a message from one of them, ‘Prime minister, hurry up and call it nuh man, I can’t manage no more.’ Serious business. As I said earlier, we are going to make the calling of the election sure,” declared Holness.

A section of the crowd at a Jamaica Labour Party workers’ meeting and award ceremony in Portland Western on Sunday. (Photos: Karl Mclarty)