MONTEGO BAY, St James — Finally able to access millions of dollars earned from selling 25 acres of land needed for the Montego Bay Perimeter Road project, the Ironshore Citizens’ Association is pushing ahead to resume work on its long-awaited community centre.

So far $50 million has been made available to the citizes’ association for the community centre from funds paid over by the road project’s executing agency, National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC).

On Thursday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the association and the St James Municipal Corporation which will have oversight for the project that will be put to tender. The goal is to develop a facility that can serve the needs of residents while generating income.

“For the community of Ironshore, the major resource in that community is tourism. We plan to have fun days where tourists will come and see local cooking and lots of activities,” president of the Ironshore Citizens’ Association, Shernett Annon-Rose said of the centre’s earning potential.

“We’ll be open for the public as well because we will have other things — like the municipal corporation… might want to [rent the space to] have a Christmas party,” she added.

However, she explained that the centre will primarily be used to enrich the lives of community members.

“We also plan for health fairs; we plan to have a 24-hour counselling service – voluntary – where persons who are ill and need counselling can call the centre, so we’ll have an office open for that,” Annon-Rose stated.

“It’s a community that carries a lot of residents, elderly persons, so [we will have] care programmes; and it encompasses a park as well,” she added.

In a later interview with the Jamaica Observer Annon-Rose spoke of other plans.

“A group of us are going to build a swimming pool as well so that individuals can exercise and all that,” Annon-Rose revealed.

There will also be a football field and basketball court.

The association president said these types of amenities will set the community centre apart from those seen in some other neighbourhoods which are only used for occasional meetings. She predicts that the facility will breathe new life into Ironshore which she said once had a cricket club, golf course, club house, and access to a beach.

“There is no green space for a community this big…, the community is basically left dry. We can have social activities again [once the centre is completed],” Annon-Rose told the Observer.

She explained that they have been working on the project since 2011 and broke ground in 2017. The project was officially started in 2019 but construction was delayed as they awaited proceeds from the land sale.

“There was a resolution that we sell some of the community lands and use the funds to build it. It’s the bureaucracy that has taken this long for it to come through from the time they have sold the lots to build the bypass,” Annon-Rose explained.

“The lots were sold, May coming would be four years ago, and we are just getting a part of the money,” she added.

Residents are eager to see the project progress and their assets protected.

“The community has expended $15 million, basically. All the flooring is in, the sewage is in, and there is a section that we’ve been using, but because it isn’t completed and secured people keep going there and stealing out the bathroom fixtures and all of that,” Annon-Rose lamented.

The funds derived from the land sale are now expected to assist residents in making a massive push towards completion of the facility.

The municipal corporation has been integrally involved in the process.

“The proceeds went to the Consolidated Fund, and because it was lodged to the Consolidated Fund, the Ministry of Finance and [the] Public Service, we had to engage them for a payout so we could reinvest this money into the community space,” mayor of Montego Bay, Richard Vernon said during Thursday’s signing ceremony.

“As we would have it, they have allocated $50 million for the development of a community centre,” he declared.

He praised the collaborative effort between the corporation and the community.

“What is special about this approach is that there will be an increased level of community involvement in the way this project is executed. The municipal corporation has always been a corporation that takes a people-centred approach to development, and this is synonymous with that approach,” said Vernon.

Councillor for the Montego Bay North Eastern Division, Charles Sinclair Jr, who has long lobbied for the project, was happy to see the progress made. He gave a commitment that additional funds would be made available if needed.

“It may not necessarily complete the project, but if there is a need for additional funding then we are going to be making the relevant application with the support and backing from the community,” Sinclair said.

“I believe that once they show that the building has utility for the space, it will make the task even easier. When we can show to the Ministry of Finance that the expenditure has been done efficiently and effectively and keeping within the rules— as expected by the various legislation that we operate on now — the task in getting additional funding to complete the project will be much more easy,” he said.

The incomplete Ironshore Community Centre.