MBCCI: Neglected infrastructure hurting MoBay

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) says it is disappointed with the government’s lack of urgency in completing important infrastructure to support the rapid development of the western city.

The protracted delays in the multi-billion-dollar renovation of the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), the debilitating crime situation, and the construction of the Montego Bay Perimeter Road were highlighted at a press conference called by the chamber.

“We need a solid road infrastructure to increase productivity,” said chamber president Oral Heaven, “We need a working health system, not just to cater for us in Montego Bay, but throughout western Jamaica, and of course, where there is turmoil (crime), the business cannot operate in a profitable way.”

While Health and Wellness Minister Christopher Tufton has been defending the billions being spent to renovate CRH, which has given a new December 2024 completion timeline, Heaven is concerned about the constantly escalating price tag, which has ballooned to $10 billion, doubling the initial projection.

“We know originally $5 billion was allotted to complete the project, from Phase One to Phase Three,” said Heaven, “We are at the end of phase two, and discussions are that to complete phase three, we will need over $10 billion.”

According to Heaven, residents are not comfortable with the current projections, which he sees as unacceptable.

“Montego Bay is a tourism mecca, and we have tourists coming here and they feel confident that, if when they come to any territory and they get sick, they will have a first-class hospital to go to, so we are calling on the authority to give us some timelines,” continued Heaven.

“The reality is that we are not looking to get a complete hospital until March 2025, therefore we are calling in the minister to come and talk with us,” added Heaven.

As its relates to the Montego Bay bypass, Heaven said the business community was anticipating that more work would have been done since the ground-breaking exercise in July of last year.

“We need that infrastructure if Montego Bay is going to be the platform for economic growth and development for Jamaica. The question is, when will this road start?” asked Heaven.

While he is encouraged by the anti-crime efforts of the St James divisional commander, Senior Superintendent Vernon Ellis, he is still concerned about the city’s perennial crime problem.

“The reality is that any increase in criminality is bad, and the business community cannot survive in criminality,” said Heaven, who wants more resources poured into the crime-fighting effort.

Chamber director, attorney-at-law, and director, Paulette Neil, issued a call to the Andrew Holness administration to rethink its decision to postpone the local government elections.

“The chamber strongly supports the need for local representation and in this vein, we find that the reasons given, especially where the economy is concerned, as spurious,” said Neil, “Furthermore, the chamber supports the call for fixed election dates for both the local and central government elections, which would save the country some money and which is likely to encourage a higher voter turnout.”