Signing of loan agreement paves way for construction activities to get under way

Construction activities are to move into high gear for the development of the long-awaited Morant Bay Urban Centre at the old Goodyear factory in Springfield, St Thomas.

Directors of the Morant Bay Urban Centre Company Limited this morning signed the loan agreement to finance the construction of the facility. The loan agreement is being facilitated through the National Commercial Bank (NCB).

The directors of the company, Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) are now paving the way for construction activities to take place. The loan agreement was signed by FCJ Chairman Lyttleton ‘Tanny’ Shirley and CHEC Country Manager Dangran Bi.

Construction of this development is expected to commence next month. For Shirley, the signing signals the beginning of a new dawn for St Thomas, which has not experienced any major development in over 30 years.

Much benefit to accrue to the parish

According to the FCJ Chairman, “St Thomas will now benefit from economic growth through the development of the Morant Bay Urban Centre alongside the construction of the highway which is now under way”.

“Not only as shareholders are we committed; we share the prosperity that we expect to see happening in St Thomas – for the residents, for persons who have migrated from St Thomas and want to return, for the people of Jamaica, because it will be a location that we all can be proud of. It will be symbolic to what should take place in all parishes across Jamaica,” said Shirley.

Ground was broken for the project in June 2019, however delays in securing all the requisite approvals resulted in the postponement in the start of construction. The FCJ chairman has given the commitment to have the project completed within the specified 24 month timeline and within budget.

Full commitment to the project

Shirley advised that “the signing of the loan agreement will formalise and concretise the commitment to commence construction in February of 2022. To the residents of St Thomas, investors and stakeholders please note that in a few weeks, you will see a construction site ready and going with the highest commitment that you’ve ever seen taking place for a long time”.

For CHEC, the Morant Bay Urban Centre development will be the most successful project undertaken by them.

“We did ground-breaking three years ago … from my heart sincerely, I really thank the management team from FCJ for trusting CHEC to finish the technical things …I do confidently say, in the future this will be most successful project that we have done in this island,” the CHEC country manager said.

The Morant Bay Urban Centre will see the amalgamation of services provided by the Government of Jamaica and the private sector through the creation of 436,000 square feet of space.

Among the entities to take up space at the development are the St Thomas Municipal Corporation, the Ministry of Justice through the St Thomas Parish Court, all other government entities located in Morant Bay and several private sector companies to include KFC, Burger King and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, just to name a few.