There is a development plan for Old Harbour – Mayor Scott

Councillor Scott, who is also the Mayor of Spanish Town, was responding to queries at a town hall meeting on October 8 at the Old Harbour High School auditorium. 

“There is a plan for Old Harbour,” he said before telling attendees that “it is on the municipal’s website”.

Many present immediately went to the municipal’s online portal but found nothing after making multiple checks.

Old Harbour News has been conducting a detailed search as well without any success so far. 

Calls for a spatial plan for St Catherine’s third most populous town have been a moot topic for decades. Those calls have intensified in recent years for Old Harbour - regarded as the fastest growing residential community on the island with more than 6,000 houses built since the turn of the 21^st Century. The housing population is projected to grow at even a faster rate, said the mayor, who told the audience that over 10,000 housing units are already earmarked for construction within the next decade. With this fact in mind the population of southwest St Catherine will surpass 100,000. 

The high pace of housing solutions and lack of infrastructural development is serious cause for concerns for residents and business operators alike. 

An antiquated drainage system can no longer meet the capacity of modern demands, while long traffic lines are now common features in a town centre that sees over 300,000 vehicles monthly according to data from the National Works Agency (NWA). Additionally, the Old Harbour High School, with an oversized population of 2,500 students, remains the only secondary institution in the community and is already incapable of meeting the demands of the growing population. It is one of 27 schools in the entire country that continues to operate on a shift system and will remain so for the foreseeable future despite the Education Ministry’s ambitious target of eliminating this model by 2028. Questions have been raised also about whether or not there is adequate water resource to meet the demands of the growth in population with new and older communities experiencing unusual disruption in supply.

What is a spatial plan?

A spatial plan is the strategic and democratic process of deciding the future physical layout of a place. It's an essential tool for turning a vision of a sustainable, functional, and liveable community, city, or region into a reality. Its main goal is to manage change in a coordinated, strategic, and sustainable way. Instead of letting development happen randomly, which appears to be the current modus operandi for Old Harbour and other towns elsewhere, a spatial plan provides a clear, long-term vision. Its key purposes are to prevent chaos, promote efficiency and protect the environment. 

This comprehensive document or strategy acts as a blueprint for the future development of a specific area by directing what, where and how infrastructures like houses, parks and factories are built in a coordinated fashion while protecting the environment. 

In 2019, the government launched a major modernization of its national development framework with the creation of a new National Spatial Plan (NSP), slated for draft completion by the end of that year. This new plan will replace the outdated 1978 National Physical Plan, which has guided the island's development for over three decades.

Announced then by Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Daryl Vaz, the NSP is designed to establish a governance framework for the optimal and effective use of Jamaica’s natural resources. Minister Vaz, speaking at the launch of the plan's second phase, emphasized that the NSP will provide a "strategic spatial framework to guide national development and investment decision-making”.

The NSP: 2020-2040 aims to be a comprehensive blueprint for Jamaica's future. Minister Vaz underscored the government's commitment to "making development sustainable”, highlighting the plan's role in adapting to climate change, protecting the environment, and driving economic growth.

A Digital Leap Forward with New IT Platform

A cornerstone of the new plan is the development of a National Spatial Planning Information Technology (NSPIT) Platform. This state-of-the-art system will be used to disseminate planning information to the public and guide development at national, regional, and local levels. Ultimately, the platform aims to host all spatial planning data and support the online submission and processing of development applications, benefiting all government agencies involved in the process.

Funding and Collaboration

The development of the NSP is supported by the Adaptation Programme and Financing Mechanism for the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (AP&FM-PPCR), a US$19.8 million project focused on climate adaptation. The AP&FM-PPCR provided funding for the technical aspects of the plan and ensures its alignment with the National Development Plan – Vision 2030 Jamaica. The NSPIT platform is funded by the World Bank and implemented by JAMPRO under the National Competitiveness Project.

Public Consultation

Following a technical symposium to begin drafting the plan, the government will embark on a series of islandwide public consultations. Gillian Guthrie, acting chief technical director in the ministry, confirmed that these consultations will focus on engaging civil society and municipalities. Once finalized, the draft NSP will be submitted to the ministry for necessary approvals, marking a significant step toward a more structured and sustainable future for Jamaica's development.

Six years onward after the NSP was launched, consultation on Old Harbour is yet to begin. Meanwhile the development of Jamaica’s fastest growing town continues apace, setting the moving parts crucial to its development, on a social collision course that is bound to occur sooner than later should the realities on the ground remain the same.