Jamaica, 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙮

As many of you might know, I supported the development of an efficient and effective road network in and around Jamaica. I felt that this road network would provide greater opportunity for diversified commerce across the island. Just the reduction of travel times between major markets alone would be an impetus to economic growth. It would provide greater access to the various small villages and towns littering the interior of the island. It would open agriculture, tourism and other business opportunities in places that were inaccessible to people who wanted to invest. Jamaica’s cities and towns would be connected to a network of fast, modern road system.

One of the major reasons why I supported the development of a fast, modern, efficient and effective road network is the hope that commercial and residential developments could be directed away from the already overcrowded urban centers of Kingston and St. Andrew, Spanish Town and Montego Bay. For many decades if not centuries, these urban centers has been the major focus of development leaving the other parishes and capitals almost untouched and underdevelopment. Currently the urban centers of Kingston and St. Andrew and Montego Bay are overdeveloped and becoming unlivable. In the case of Spanish Town and Downtown Kingston major restoration work on existing buildings is needed to restore that old world charm and not necessarily new buildings.

HOWEVER, Instead of moving commercial and residential developments away from these few small urban centers, the development of the fast, modern, efficient and effective road network is having the opposite effect. It is increasing commercial and residential developments, packing more and more into a limited, already overcrowded space and overburdening their underdeveloped infrastructure. Kingston and St. Andrew for example is no longer as green a city but a hot, congested brown dust bowl of a city and Montego Bay is congested with the influx of locals and tourist. The population of Kingston and St. Andrew is increasing with increasing Rural to Urban migration. People are moving into Urban centers simply because that is where the opportunity is. If you build it they will come and like an invading zombie army they are flowing into Kingston and St. Andrew and Montego Bay.

The Government is now selling the idea that instead of building outwards they will start building upwards but the reality is they will build both outwards and upwards as greedy developers try to pack more and more high-rise buildings into our limited space. The Government is trying to remove height limit on buildings while not doing any real urban planning and forecasting.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 and the shadow/light effect.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝.

•𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐱, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

• 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬.

What is taking place in our overcrowded, overdeveloped and small urban centers of Kingston and St. Andrew, Spanish Town and Montego Bay is NOT sustainable. Kingston and St. Andrew is beginning to look like a concrete townhouse congested Jungle and I wonder why the Environmental Groups are completely silent on its destruction at the hands of unscrupulous developers.

The tops of some mountains have been excavated, gutted to build Gated Communities. Jacks Hill is no longer as green but more brownish, covered in gated Communities with most vegetation almost gone but I assume that is one way to deal with the yearly fires on that hill. However, when you remove the plants and trees, keeping the soil together, you open yourselves to landslides.

Countries normally start building massive structures to show off their new found wealth and power. Jamaica have no wealth or power but wants structures to represent their lack of wealth and power. Well it is normal for the average Jamaica to display a perception of wealth, so this explains it.