TEF mulls state-of-the-art park for Negril
Published:Friday | October 14, 2022 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE DEVELOPMENT of a state-of-the-art beach park in the resort town of Negril is to be a big ticket item on the agenda for deliberation at a Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) board retreat slated for next month.
Dr Carey Wallace, executive director of the TEF, told The Gleaner in an interview that the board will decide whether to fund the development of the beach park on state-owned lands along Norman Manley Boulevard that is currently managed by the Negril and Green Island Local Authority (Negalpa).
“The [Negril] Beach Park is on our radar and our [Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett] is very keen on seeing something done there. TEF has had instructions to look at the beach park for development and we are in the process of that now,” said Wallace.
“We have our board retreat at the end of this month and it is one of the projects that we have to look at,” the TEF boss added.
Wallace was responding to a call made recently by Morland Wilson, the member of parliament for Westmoreland Western, for the Negril Beach Park to be rehabilitated and upgraded similarly to the Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay.
“Madam Speaker, I am requesting the minister of tourism, the Tourist Product Development Company Limited (TPDCo) and the Tourist Enhancement Fund to develop the park with recreational areas similar to Harmony [Beach], including beach access,” Wilson said in his presentation.
His call comes more than a year after Harmony Beach Park, which was developed at a cost of $1.3 billion (of which $600 million was contributed by TEF), was formally opened by Prime Minister Andrew Holness and provides free access, including access to the beach, to the public.
DELIGHTED
Wallace said he is delighted that reference has been made to Harmony in Montego Bay, which, according to him, means that Jamaicans and visitors alike are pleased with the new facility and its appealing aesthetics.
“We have it on our radar. It is smaller than Harmony Beach Park, but we understand how well we have done in partnership with the Urban Development Corporation to develop Harmony Beach Park. That’s our attitude towards the infrastructural development across Jamaica,” Wallace told The Gleaner yesterday.
“Everything we do, we want to do it at first-world standards, so that it helped to make a very good impression to both our Jamaicans and our visitors when they come here,” he emphasised.
In September, Frederick Moe, chairman of the Negalpa board of directors, welcomed the call for the park to be rehabilitated.
“As far as Negalpa is concerned, we are really unable to do anything more than we have because there are no committed resources to do so. We would love to see it developed,” Moe said, noting that the organisation is only able to carry out basic sanitation services.
Lenworth Williams, a local businessman and community activist, when contacted yesterday for a response to TEF’s plans to develop the beach park, expressed delight and said it would redound to the benefit of the local community.
“It will benefit the people that don’t have a beach attached to their property and, when developed, should be done in such a way to truly mirror what exists in Montego Bay,” Williams said.
“ ...The park must be there to supplement my produce and it must provide an awesome, safe and secure ambience and environment so that when I send my guest there, it enhances the experience that I offer at my West End property,” he insisted.