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UDC LEADS THIRD CITY STAKEHOLDER PLANNING EFFORTS

The planning for the development of Jamaica’s Third City as mandated by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in July 2016 advanced in earnest with the Urban Development Corporation, UDC hosting an inaugural technical workshop on September 27, 2017 at the Jamaica Conference Centre. The event which involved multi-sectoral stakeholders was organised to establish the context within which the ‘smart city’ would be developed and the approach to select its location.

Speaking further to that mandate at the event, Board Director of the UDC William Tavares Finson said “the development of a third city is being envisaged as becoming a location from which planning can start afresh from the ground up”.

“ Resilience to climate change will be built in to afford that location the requisite infrastructure to support the new world order of smart growth and innovation,” he said adding that “the city will be built to accommodate a target population which is anticipated to relieve Kingston of its current urban overflow and reduce the burden on the capital city’s infrastructure”.

Speaking also at the beginning of the exercise, Dr Damian Graham, General Manager of the UDC said “A third city is a very important part of our nation’s history. Never before in Jamaica’s development history has the UDC taken an approach such as this to come together with the best and brightest minds to determine where and how we will settle our people,” he said. “It is a proud celebration of our progressive spirit as a developing nation,” the UDC General Manager noted further.

Turning to the question of why the UDC was selected to lead the charge, Dr Graham said the Corporation “is rightly placed to undertake and lead a project of this nature by being the government’s main urban and regional development agency and also by having a track record of renewing and revitalising several of Jamaica’s main urban centres”.

The Prime Minister has mandated the board of the UDC to create the island’s third city against the background that the dominance enjoyed by Kingston which is the centre of governance as well as the financial and commercial hub, had created an imbalance with other locations based on its excessive demand for services and the provision of infrastructure.

UDC with the support of its Third City Planning Committee engaged stakeholders in discussions and presentations aimed at reviewing and refining the Terms of References relating to the site selection methodology to facilitate an unbiased selection of the optimal site for the third city.

Participating ministries/agencies included JAMPRO, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency, National Environment and Planning Agency, Jamaica Public Service Co. which made relevant presentations to shape the various planning inputs.

The Third City project is currently in phase 1 – the Site Selection Phase. As the project progresses, there will be further engagement of the wider public in various visioning sessions. Upon securing consultancies in Phase 1, two other phases will follow: master planning and implementation.

The workshop was part sponsored by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo.)

For further information, please contact:
The Corporate Relations and Marketing Department
Urban Development Corporation
12 Ocean Boulevard
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel 🙁 876) 656-8031
Email cr@udcja.com
www.facebook.com/urbandevelopmentcorporation
 

October 4, 2017