A brand new chapter has begun for the parish of St. Thomas, lengthy labelled as “forgotten,” with the official opening of the $6-billion Morant Bay City Centre, described as a landmark achievement within the authorities’s effort to decentralise growth throughout Jamaica.
On Thursday, Could 15, Prime Minister Andrew Holness reduce the ceremonial ribbon to mark the event, addressing a large crowd of residents, dignitaries, and authorities officers. “St. Thomas, I didn’t overlook you,” he declared. “Right now, we definitively shut the chapter of many years of underdevelopment.”
The Morant Bay City Centre, constructed on the grounds of the previous Goodyear Manufacturing facility, spans roughly 436,000 sq. ft and is Jamaica’s first built-in industrial hub combining private and non-private companies. The venture was spearheaded by the Factories Company of Jamaica (FCJ) in partnership with the China Harbour Engineering Firm Restricted (CHEC) and the Nationwide Business Financial institution.
With its vary of presidency companies—together with a brand new court docket facility, the St. Thomas Municipal Company, and a HEART/NSTA Belief location—alongside private-sector tenants like KFC, Juici Patties, Categorical Health, Ribbiz Extremely Lounge, and the parish’s first college, the City Centre is poised to remodel Morant Bay into a contemporary, financial nucleus.
“That is greater than infrastructure; that is affect,” stated Dr. Michelle Charles, Member of Parliament for St. Thomas Japanese. Former MP Dr. Fenton Ferguson was additionally current, highlighting the bipartisan assist for the long-anticipated venture.
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Dr. Holness acknowledged the lengthy highway to Thursday’s ceremony—from the venture’s inception in 2017, to its groundbreaking in 2019, and now to completion. Tenants have been given a three-month rent-free interval to outfit their items whereas closing landscaping and roadworks are accomplished by CHEC.
The Prime Minister additionally introduced {that a} multipurpose leisure and sports activities advanced shall be developed on close by land. “We’re going to develop that land right into a multipurpose leisure and sports activities facility that’s going to be the envy of different parishes,” he stated, promising to attend the primary occasion held there.
Future plans embrace section two of the venture, which is able to add two extra blocks—one devoted to medical companies—and a 10-acre extension for micro and small companies.
Chairman of the FCJ, Lyttleton Shirley, described the venture as a “true manifestation” of Prime Minister Holness’ imaginative and prescient. “We’re not merely slicing a ribbon. We’re carving a path for the way forward for the folks of St. Thomas,” he stated.
