Prime Minister Andrew Holness (right) converses with Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) Chairman Lyttleton Shirley during a tour of the Morant Bay Urban Centre earlier this year. (Photo: JIS)
A new completion date of December 2024 has been set for the Morant Bay Urban Centre in St Thomas, with the project now reported to be 70 per cent finished.
Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) Chairman, Lyttleton Shirley, said the previously announced deadline of September 2024 was pushed back due to delays in construction activities.
“We experienced an issue with the impending relocation of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) substation, which is located on the site. This caused the delay,” said Shirley.
He was speaking at the ceremony to break ground for the Boundbrook Urban Centre in Portland on August 14, where he stated that the Morant Bay project is the blueprint for what will be developed at Boundbrook.
Shirley said the journey of building the Morant Bay Urban Centre, which is the first of its kind in Jamaica, has been “a lot of work”.
“It has been very fulfilling to see where we started and where we are now, a project nearing completion… a project that will be the blueprint for all parishes across Jamaica to adopt… not only in Jamaica, but in the Caribbean,” he said.
“This has made our job to create the Boundbrook Urban Centre much easier, because we are following the blueprint to create a facility that is conducive to Portland and its people (and) transforming communities,” Shirley added.
The Morant Bay Urban Centre is being constructed at a cost of $6 billion. The 28-acre development comprises 436,000 square feet and will feature more than 50 public and private sector entities within one space.
