UDC clarifies pay for play claim at MoBay's Harmony Beach Park
Published:Tuesday | October 5, 2021 | 6:41 PM
The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) has rejected claims that there is a charge for general use of the kiddies' play area at the Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay, St James.
According to the UDC, public access to the beach park remains free but the kiddies' play areas and multi-purpose court are closed in an effort to manage visitor numbers amid the COVID-19.
It says, however, that the play area, among others, are available for rent for private, group events of no more than 10 persons.
The UDC was responding to a video of a crying six-year-old girl who was saddened after her mother was told by a park security guard that she would have to pay to use the play area.
The rental cost is around $10,000.
“I'm crying because I can't go on the playground,” said the little girl as she sat in her mother's car adjacent to the park.
The mother, who spoke off-camera, said she was shocked after being told that she would have to rent the facility.
“Why put up a park and the children cannot go on it unless their parents' pay?” she questioned, calling for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to intervene.
Harmony Beach Park is a free public beach park on 16 acres of the waterfront at the intersection of the Howard Cooke and Jimmy Cliff boulevards in Montego Bay.
On Friday, May 21, Holness officially opened the park for public use.
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