TRELAWNY, Jamaica — Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has promised a major commercial transformation for the rural community of Clark’s Town, which he said will become an urban centre.

The JLP leader made the disclosure during a tour of sections of the Trelawny Northern constituency, represented by the party’s Tova Hamilton, on Friday.

He noted that the proposed development forms part of the Government’s plan to develop a number of rural communities into modern urban centres.

” …As we have said, we are going to develop these towns into modern urban centres. Some people believe it’s a joke, but you will hear more about the Jamaica Labour Party’s plan to redevelop and modernise all rural townships,” he said.

“The first one we have done is the Morant Bay Urban Centre and I encourage all of you, when you get a chance, go to that side of the island and you will see the development that we have done there, and that is just a start,” he told the cheering Labourites.

Clark’s Town was once a bustling community, but has lost its vibrancy since the closure of the Long Pond Sugar Factory in 2017, and the subsequent sharp decline in sugar cane cultivation in Trelawny.

Holness noted on Friday that plans are already in place to break ground for a major housing project in the Clark’s Town area.

The JLP leader was referring to the planned construction of more than 800 housing units on roughly 150 acres of former sugar cane lands at Parnassus, to be undertaken by the Housing Agency of Jamaica.
Ground is expected to be broken for the development later this year.

Hamilton, a fist-term member of parliament, defeated the People’s National Party’s Victor Wright by 1,761 votes in the last general election, to hand the seat to the JLP for the first time since 1989.

During a brief stop with Holness in Clark’s Town on Friday, Hamilton urged the jubilant Labourites not to become complacent and to work assiduously to return her as their MP in the upcoming general election.

She noted that much has been achieved in the constituency under her watch, especially in the area of road infrastructure, but stressed that ” more need to be done”.

“So far we have achieved a lot, but we have more to do to make this a model constituency,” she stressed, and she urged the Labourites to ensure she gets a second term.

“On election day, don’t take it [that we will win] for granted, bring out your families, bring out your neighbours, don’t take it lightly as the other side is not taking it lightly,” she emphasised.

Hamilton is expected to be challenged for the seat by former PNP MP for Westmoreland Western Dr Wykeham McNiell, who lost in his bid to retain the constituency in the 2020 General Election.

– Mark Cummings