THE Government has pointed to “several challenges” as the reason for the delay in the completion of the $4.4-billion Portmore Resilience Park which was initially planned for construction to be done by September 2025.

The revised timetable — contained in the Government’s latest annual report on Form 18-K filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission — puts completion in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026/27 — between October and December 2026.

The report said $2.6 billion has already been spent on the facility and work was advancing at the park, located at Lot 26 in Portmore Town Centre, but did not identify the challenges, state the current level of physical completion, or explain how they affected the construction timetable.

The delay contrasts with the firm deadline given by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness at the project’s groundbreaking on January 17, 2024.

“We expect the park to be completed in September 2025. The contractors are here, Pave-Con Limited. This is a warning, September 2025,” Holness said in his address at the ceremony.

Construction was expected to begin on February 5, 2024.

Up to early last year, the project was still being presented as on schedule. Following a tour on February 28, 2025, Holness said it was “50 per cent complete and remained on track for completion by September”.

The Government has reported that $2.6 billion has already been spent on the $4.4-billion Portmore Resilience Park which is slated for completion in the third quarter of this fiscal year. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

At the time, he said the facility would be opened to the public about one or two months after construction was completed. The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) continued to say as late as June 2025 that the park was on track for completion that year.

However, the September deadline passed without the project being completed. UDC Chairman Norman Brown said during a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) think tank on July 9 that the corporation was now anticipating completion later this year.

The latest JIS report continues to put the project cost at $4.4 billion. The $2.6 billion reported as spent is equivalent to about 59 per cent of that amount, although expenditure does not necessarily reflect the percentage of physical work completed.

Neither the SEC filing nor the latest UDC update, indicated that the project cost had increased. They also did not say whether Pave-Con had received an extension of time or whether the earlier one-to-two-month period between completion and opening would still apply.

The SEC filing describes the development as a 26-acre space comprising an 18-acre park, approximately 4.75 acres reserved for the Ministry of Transport and 2.75 acres for commercial development.

The park is expected to include a 700-metre jogging track; tennis, volleyball, basketball and pickleball courts; an indoor events complex; and three acres of green space. Other planned features include an outdoor gym, areas for concerts and community events, gazebos and a children’s centre.

The Government has said entry to the park will be free, but commercial and event spaces are expected to generate income to help pay for its upkeep.

Work in progress at Lot 26 in Portmore Town Centre, which is to be the home of the $4.4-billion Portmore Resilience Park. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

UDC Deputy General Manager for Subsidiary Management and Revenue Generation Sherlock Glenister said the commercial spaces would be leased, while the gazebos and event areas would be available for rental.

The UDC had already invited bids for 24 shops in the main commercial building, two containerised retail clusters and three wooden kiosks. The bidding period closed in June 2025. The corporation has not said whether the spaces have since been awarded.

The park is also being promoted as Jamaica’s first “smartpark”. Its climate-related features include solar energy, drip irrigation, native landscaping, stormwater detention basins and water-harvesting systems.

An air-quality monitor has been installed at its Climate Change Tower to gather data on temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall, dust, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. In announcing the installation in June 2025, the UDC said the information would support urban planning, public-health decisions and Jamaica’s broader climate programme.

At the groundbreaking, the Government projected that construction would create approximately 400 direct and 200 indirect jobs. It also estimated that the completed park would support 70 direct and 30 indirect jobs.

Plans for a climate park at the Portmore Town Centre site predate the current project.

According to the UDC’s project history, the German city of Hagen signed an agreement with the Portmore Municipal Council in 2015 to help fund a park featuring trees, a trail, pond, wind turbines, and an observation tower. Preliminary work was later undertaken before the project was redesigned and placed under the UDC’s Urban Spaces programme.