MONTEGO BAY, St James — Highlighting the potential of the once violence-plagued community of Granville in this western city, real estate developer Fredrik Moe has added his voice to the call to swiftly move towards the orderly development of the area.

According to Moe, Granville and nearby Fairfield — which is decidedly more upscale — have a lot of potential.

“I liken Fairfield and Granville to Jack’s Hill in Kingston, it has that feel to me. You leave the town, you go up slightly into the lower hills above Kingston, you leave Barbican and you are in Jack’s Hill. That is what Fairfield and Granville are all situated to be in my view,” said Moe Monday evening, during a high-level planning and investment round-table discussion which brought together residents and stakeholders of greater Granville.

Moe is one of Jamaica’s most well-known and respected developers, with a large number of impactful projects under his belt including Fairview, regarded by many as Montego Bay’s new town centre.

The stakeholders meeting was held at Day O Plantation by the Granville Peace Justice & Resource Development Foundation (GPJRDF) to discuss the way forward for what is described as a major push to bring order to one of western Jamaica’s fastest-growing and most under-planned urban spaces.

The focus was on the Greater Granville Planning District which includes the communities of Granville, Pitfour, Retirement, Friendship, and surrounding areas, which have seen steady population growth, increasing informal settlement, and mounting strain on infrastructure.

“The crime is down, infrastructural improvements have begun, there are more that are needed but the essence of making this a success is to have a cohesive plan and a planning effort around these discussions that are not only accepted at the highest levels of government but also accepted at the municipal level,” Moe stressed as he cautioned against delay.

“The time to do this in Granville and Fairfield is now, I really feel, and it’s the reason I came tonight. It’s not only for my own selfish interests. I really believe that this is an opportunity that we can really make an impact on Montego Bay and change the way it functions and the way it looks and feels,” he stated.

Moe was the guest speaker during the event and one of a number of people who highlighted the importance of the area and its potential to impact the further growth and development of Montego Bay.

Convenor of the event and chair of GPJRDF, O Dave Allen, pointed to the area’s ability to accommodate any spillover from the ongoing development of the western city.

“Retirement has 1,800 acres of land that is well positioned to absorb the growth and opportunities for the working poor in Montego Bay,” he said during his remarks.

“We need to provide low-cost housing solutions for the workers in the hotel industry, for those in the business process outsourcing (BPO) that is in close proximity to Montego Bay,” Allen said of the potential benefits of developing the area.

Former mayor of Montego Bay Homer Davis has a range of commercial interests in the area and also believes now is the time for Granville to shine.

“Granville, in my opinion, is poised for further development. But it cannot be done in an ad hoc way, it has to be done in a very structured way and it has to have the leadership from members of the community,” declared Davis who has served as the Member of Parliament for St James Southern.

For years, there has been talk about the untapped potential of Granville, which sits just on the outskirts of Montego Bay. A variety of issues have stymied much-talked-about plans but stakeholders, including Allen, are hoping that discussions like the ones held Monday evening will finally move them beyond round tables to action.

“We want to do these developments in an orderly way and one of the critical areas that we must address, as a matter of urgency, is the whole matter of roads; because roads lead to development,” he asserted.

“When we look at the Chambers Drive starting from Fairfield here going on to Retirement, this is impatient of development. We have seen, too often, congestion that undermines production and productivity,” Allen lamented.

The need for improved road infrastructure was shared by Davis in his vision for the area.

“Can you imagine if we had a road leading from Gutters, a four-lane road, not a highway but a four-lane road leading from Gutters into Montego Bay, how seamless the drive would be,” he dared those gathered to imagine.

In terms of other issues that need to be addressed in order to facilitate the development the area needs, Davis pointed to how sewage is treated in the area, and challenges with the Retirement landfill.

However, for Allen, one of the most pressing concerns is landownership, a long-standing sore point.

“We don’t want to have any squatting in Granville, we do not want to have informal communities in Granville and therefore, we are proactive in terms of proposing a master plan for the redevelopment of Granville,” he said.

“We are very proud in Granville that we, over the past three years, have seen a massive reduction in the level of violence in the community which opens an opportunity for us to pivot in a way that we can now look at building Granville as a sustainable community,” Allen declared.

Developer Fredrik Moe, speaking during a round-table discussion Monday, where he said Granville and Fairfield have the potential of Kingston’s Jack’s Hill..

Among those present during Monday evening’s discussion on the economic potential of Granville and surrounding communities was former mayor of Montego Bay and former Member of Parliament for South St James Homer Davis.

Social activist O Dave Allen was the convenor of Monday evening’s discussion on the future of the Greater Granville Planning District. 

Morning traffic makes its way through Granville Square on the outskirts of Montego Bay, Wednesday.