ORIGINALLY shut down over concerns that a criminal network was charging people for access, Little Dunn’s River in Ocho Rios, St Ann, has once again fallen into the hands of profiteers who are extorting Jamaicans to use the free beach.

On a visit to the beach last Wednesday, the Jamaica Observer noticed that it was in full operation, despite its opening hours listed as Sundays between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm.

Our news team was approached by a man at a side entrance who claimed to be a caretaker for the property, which is owned and operated by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC). He stated that the main entrance was closed, but he could grant access through a side gate near the property. However, access to the free beach costs $300.

The Sunday Observer left the area and returned later in the day. This time, two men were observed at the side entrance appealing to tourists to enter the facility for a small fee. Again, upon reaching the side entrance, the Sunday Observer was told that access could be granted for $300 and that it must be paid at the gate. The money was exchanged for access to the property, but when pressed on why the payment was necessary, given that the beach is owned and operated by the UDC, one man sought to establish his right to charge.

“If you walk through yah suh, you have to pay me. Tell the boss say a we run yah suh, a nuh Government,” he told the
Sunday Observer.

Another man, who was observed selling food on the property, chimed in: “Dunn’s River dear, enuh. It’s expensive. Down here is kind of, give them a little thing, the maintenance man them. You give them a little $300 and get in, and you have the whole day. You can come here at any hours. If you want to stay ’til any hours, yuh free — you deh pon your own. We have a rocker down here, we have chairs, we have food, we have liquor, we have everything down here. Everything down here is we.”

In another interaction with the self-appointed caretaker, he sought to further explain the reason for charging a fee.

“You see [right here], nobody [else] nuh do nothing. Me buy garbage bags, me clean the bathroom; you see all the light on the light post deh so, a me buy it. You see down there so weh dig down, a me pay fi dig it down; a we spend on the beach, mi friend,” he said.

He then became visibly upset at having to explain himself and attempted to rip up the money he had received as payment.

At that point the news team left before the interaction escalated.

Member of Parliament for St Ann North Eastern Matthew Samuda, in response to the activities, shared with the Sunday Observer that this is the second or third time in recent years that reports have surfaced about unscrupulous individuals charging for access to the free beach. He condemned the action.

“Little Dunn’s River is a free public beach. It is an access point to the coastline; it is one that is under the superintendence of UDC and anyone charging to enter the facility is doing so illegally, and that shouldn’t be taken lightly,” said Samuda, who is also the minister of water, environment and climate change.

“One should recall, if you go back into the police records, that the very issue with Little Dunn’s River, which beach access activists try to allude to or try to ignore, is that the very locking down of the facility was based on the fact that we had gangs trying to capture this facility in the past and there was actually an incident which led to the murder of someone over said illegal charging,” he shared.

His reference was to 2022 when the property was closed by the UDC due to safety concerns after a man, identified as 25-year-old Roshane Housen, otherwise called Bredda, of Falkland in Ocho Rios, was shot dead on the property. The shooting death reportedly emanated from an argument with members of a criminal network over payment to enter the beach.

Samuda vowed that the Government will not stand idly by and accept a return to that illegality.

“We will not allow it to go back to that point. This issue is front and centre. We’re very aware of it. We’ve already initiated security action, and we’ve already referred the matter to the police. I am aware of some security operations which have taken place in this space, which, to the best of my knowledge, has led to some arrests even at a micro level, but we will have to take particular charge of the space,” he said.

Samuda stressed that the Government is resolute in providing free beach access to residents across Jamaica and shared that the Administration’s promised beach access policy is near completion.

He also shared that the UDC is working on a $170-million management, operation, and infrastructure upgrade for Little Dunn’s River, but until then the beach is open to the public only on weekends.

“The UDC can afford to provide free access on the weekend, meaning they provide security, they provide patrols, they provide lifeguards. We, meaning the Government, can afford to do that on the weekend…It is when most people have the time off, and that’s when you can provide that free access,” he said.

“You can’t just open a section of the coastline and not have a lifeguard; you can’t just open the section and not have cleaning and waste removal and bathroom cleaning, which is why we do it on the weekends, because that’s also the heaviest demand,” Samuda explained.

He said the management plan aims to strike a balance between accessibility and security and will involve careful planning to create a safe and enjoyable environment for the public.

“The indigenous operators of Little Dunn’s River will be both considered, consulted, and engaged in the design process,“ Samuda added.

“The fly-by-night, new, unscrupulous persons who are trying to block access of Jamaicans to the facility will be removed forcefully…they’re not the ones doing any maintenance, they’re not custodians, they’re not guardians, these are criminals,” he stressed.

In March last year, several members of the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement staged a peaceful protest outside the gates of the facility, demanding seven-day access.

According to the lobby group, 78-year-old Rastafarian Ras Vincent “Bongo” Cheese lived for decades on the land where Little Dunn’s River — formerly known as Cave River Beach — is located, long before the UDC acquired the property.

The group said that, in the 1960s, Bongo and other Rastafarians carved pathways on the property to the sea and river, uncovering hidden gems and shaping the area into the beloved natural retreat.

The group had filed legal action against the UDC to return full free access to the property, and advocated their legal and moral right to remain, not as paid tenants, but as custodians of the nation’s collective future for public beach access rights.

The main entrance at Little Dunn’s River in Ocho Rios, St Ann is blocked off by plants.

Environment Minister Matthew Samuda takes a stroll along a section of the beach in Coopers Pen, Trelawny, with the new RIU Aquarelle development in the background, on Saturday. He says the Andrew Holness-led Administration’s promised beach access policy is near completion.

A section of Little Dunn’s River in St Ann.