THE Kingston Harbour Walk Project (KHW) must catalyse a shift in Jamaica’s architectural development, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness declared Wednesday, saying that the country has spent decades “afraid to build” and now needs leaders willing to take calculated risks and pursue ambitious infrastructure projects.

The prime minister argued his point using downtown Kingston as a prime example of a city that has abandoned its assets, noting that it hosted several attractions, including the Kingston Harbour, which have remained underdeveloped over the years.

He was speaking at the official signing ceremony at the Carib Cement Sports Club on Tuesday, marking the agreement for the KHW’s second feasibility study and detailed designs.

“Over a course of a generation, the city quietly turned its back on the finest harbour in the world. You know, Jamaicans have a concept of front page — front yard. The truth is we have not treated the Kingston Harbour as if it were our front yard. We have treated it like our backyard, and you know the front yard, that’s where you welcome guests. And indeed, the harbour is the front yard,” said Holness.

The prime minister charged that his Administration will be the one to reclaim the city, and to transform it into a resilient, developed, and productive space where Jamaicans, tourists, and investors alike can enjoy its amenities.

“Hurricane Melissa [October 2025] taught us a lesson. And that lesson is that we can’t rebuild what was before the disaster. We have to rebuild what should have been before the disaster. We have to rebuild better than what existed before the disaster; otherwise, we are merely inviting the destruction of what existed before the disaster,” he said.

“So in taking on this mammoth project of the Kingston Harbour Walk, it is not our intention to be marginal, incremental, unambitious, safe, cheap. I’m not saying we’re going to be expensive, but…we must, as a nation, build,” said Holness.

The KHW, led by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and designed as a world-class public waterfront, will create a continuous 25-kilometre climate resilient promenade extending from downtown Kingston to Port Royal and is expected to benefit 16 communities and more than 660,000 people.

The waterfront improvement project is already underway, focusing on the first phase to upgrade the downtown Kingston waterfront through a partnership between the UDC, the Social Investment Fund, and World Bank financing.

Holness noted that through signing the consultancy contract valued at US$3,447,315, the Government is taking a first and critical step in the right direction to not only remodel the city, but Jamaica at large.

“The Hermitage Dam was built somewhere in 1919 [between 1924 and 1927] or thereabouts. The Hermitage Dam is almost 100 years old. We have not built another project like that, that was built under the colonial era. Flat bridge — what always surprises me is whenever the weather channels are showing Jamaica during a hurricane, [it’s] the only iconic thing they can find to show that was built in the colonial era in the 1800s. The Mona Dam [is] an 80-year-old facility. Our generation must embrace infrastructure and build big infrastructure. We must not be afraid of building infrastructure,” he said.