Investors book out Morant Bay Urban Centre
Published:Tuesday | June 21, 2022 | 12:06 AM
Prospects for investors to roll out a range of fresh business activities in Morant Bay, St Thomas, in the medium term are looking bright, with all vacant areas fully booked.
Lyttleton ‘Tanny’ Shirley, chairman of the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ), who made the disclosure to The Gleaner in an interview, said that private-sector interests, including persons who want to set up business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, as well as government entities, will be erecting structures.
The rush to acquire properties in what has been sometimes described as the ‘forgotten parish’ has seemingly been boosted by work to develop the $6-billion Morant Bay Urban Centre and the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project.
Shirley said that the Morant Bay Urban Centre will be a game-changer, allowing businesses to feel comfortable in a safe, orderly and beautiful environment.
FIRST OF IT’S KIND
The Morant Bay Urban Centre is the first of its kind to be built in Jamaica. The FCJ boss, however, conceded that there have been long delays in rolling out the project.
“We are quite proud of it; we have been criticised sometimes fairly and sometimes unfairly for the long delay,” he said.
Shirley said that the COVID-19 outbreak had forced the FCJ to reassess the risk factors associated with the project. “Fortunately for us, it showed that post-COVID has escalated the demand for space in St Thomas because the road (South Coast Highway) started,” the FCJ chairman said.
In excess of 200 workers are expected to be employed in the first phase of the construction of the Morant Bay Urban Centre.
Under the contract with China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC), 80 per cent of the labour force must be Jamaicans and reside in the area.
Shirley told The Gleaner that it was now time that St Thomas shared the spotlight and the residents got an opportunity to benefit from economic growth.