Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ recent announcement of planned infrastructural development for Montego Bay, St James is being greeted by stakeholders in the tourism capital as “a massive step” in the right direction.

From taxi men to restaurant, duty free and villa owners, the consensus is that Montego Bay, the self-described economic hub of the Caribbean, badly needs the infrastructural upgrade, notably the bypass road, where the city’s major problem with traffic congestion would immediately be alleviated.

“I live in Hanover and works in Rosehall, St James… this is indeed great news,” said security officer William Black.

“I cannot begin to tell you the kind of stress and headache I have to go through daily just to get to work and back. This is great news.”

For Duty Free Merchant, Royal Shop’s Ravi Daswani, the prime minister’s announcement couldn’t have come at a better time for Montego Bay, St James.

“My take is simple… nothing of significance can happen in this country without taking Montego Bay into consideration,” Daswani noted. “The perennial problem for Montego Bay has been traffic jams or, more politically correct… traffic congestion. It is one of the most frustrating things where you want to get to a meeting or to simply move from point A to point B and find yourself stuck in traffic. A bypass road to get rid of all that stress is certainly the correct response.”

Shirley James, owner of the Pink Hibiscus Villa in Ironshore, St James, agreed.

“Totally ecstatic…been lobbying for this for a long time,” she added.

The prime minister, in his March 18 budget presentation, noted that Montego Bay, as Jamaica’s number one tourist destination, was in need of major infrastructural development.

“Montego Bay is Jamaica’s number one tourist destination. Montego Bay also has an international airport which, in normal times, is Jamaica’s busiest. In addition, the Montego Bay Port welcomed cruise ships to its port at least 2 days per week prior to COVID-19,” Holness had pointed out.

“Traffic congestion has been a longstanding issue in the city of Montego Bay as there is essentially one main thoroughfare connecting the east with west. A 2017 study of traffic through the city showed that daily traffic reached in excess of 57,845 vehicles per day which is the highest traffic volume island wide, outside of the Kingston and St. Andrew area, and exceeds the capacity of the main thoroughfare by over 11,000 vehicles per day.”

Holness added that, even with tourism at multi-decade lows in terms of occupancy, Montego Bay remains congested, further noting that once the world gets over COVID-19, tourism in the St James capital will continue to grow “and the congestion will worsen”.

“The time has come to finally get the Montego Bay Bypass done. Growth in the tourism sector will result in additional traffic being generated by the airport and sea port, as well as additional traffic throughput in the city to access various attractions in and around Montego Bay; this includes traffic intending to bypass the city,” the prime minister added.

“As a taxi man, the news of infrastructural upgrade to include the cleaning of drains and the construction of a bypass are stuff I have been longing to hear,” said transport operator Joseph Lloyd.

“Whenever it rains Montego Bay floods out, causing traffic to backup big time. The drains continue to be a major problem and we do need a bypass so that we can free up traffic in the town.”

For her part, owner of the popular Smokeez by the Sea restaurant, Rose Hall, St James, Roxanne Maragh said not only is the news from the prime minister welcoming but “it will make Montego Bay and its environs a lot more attractive”.

“Big time stuff,” she added.