Norman Grindley/ Staff Photographer
Bent Kristensen, second vice-president of the Portland Chamber of Commerce (right), in discussion with Hugh Cresser of the JHTA Portland Planning Committee at a meeting at the Jamaica Crest Hotel in Fairy Hill, Port Antonio on Wednesday.Garwin Davis, Assistant News Editor
OFFICIALS AT the Port Authority of Jamaica have accused Port Antonio businessmen of "squandering a golden opportunity" to capitalise on an upscale tourism market, warning that the town's business sector could lose out to external investors.
Senior officers at the agency say neither its recent take-over of Navy Island nor the $500-million West Harbour Project currently under construction has been enough to generate much business interests in the resort town.
"The business community has not been responding favourably which is cause for concern," said Byron Lewis, the Port Authority's senior vice-president in charge of special projects.
"In meeting after meeting they say things to suggest they would have no problem complementing what we have been doing but so far we haven't seen anything. We are building a yacht marina with the hope of cornering a very upscale market. This requires having good restaurants, dry cleaning facilities and very good entertainment. These things are essential for the kind of visitors we are attracting but tell that to the business community in this town."
Next Friday, Port Antonio will play host to the Americas' Sail Tall Ships event, where a number of luxury yachts will be sailing into the town's harbour for what has been billed as a "two day spectacle".
The event, local authorities hope, will thrust Port Antonio into the international spotlight as an upscale destination, finally giving the resort town the sort of push which they say has been "sadly missing" for many years.
But while the Port Authority has been "working around the clock" to ensure that a part of the project is complete to accommodate the vessels next Friday, there are still concerns about the town's aesthetic appeal which some feel could cause "major embarrassment".
Against that background two meetings took place in the town on Wednesday involving members of the business community, tourism and Parish Council officials. The aim was to "find the quickest of ways" to do an emergency cleaning up of the town.
"We will be patching all the roads leading into the town and also do some basic clean-up which includes the painting of some buildings," explained Port Antonio's Mayor Phillip Thomas. Asked why the Parish Council and other local entities waited for so long to start cleaning up the town, Mr. Thomas said "we have been set back on a number of occasions by the flood rains...I am however confident that we will be able to finish in time for the yacht race."
