Budget Allocations for Development in Spanish Town Amid Efforts to Maintain Law and Order
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has outlined plans to make significant infrastructural repairs and improvements to the historic old capital, Spanish Town in St. Catherine.
Allocation for the improvement work has been made in the 2019-2020 Estimates of Expenditure.
Speaking yesterday (March 10) in Spanish Town at the ‘Ten Thousand Men and their Families March’ organised by the churches in the community, Prime Minister Holness said significant repairs will be made to the roadways within the town centre and adjoining communities as well as infrastructural development including buildings.
Prime Minister Holness believes that Spanish Town should be a centre of knowledge for visitors and citizens alike to garner a wealth of history about the famous town.
“You have so many heritage sites that in any other country, this little town would be a tourist destination. There are not many towns within the Caribbean that has the architecture, Victorian and later that Spanish Town has, and it is a sad thing to see it deteriorating and the citizens not getting the full value of the history. The Real estate that the prison is on, is valuable estate and it could well be a museum or some other attraction and in time these things will be done,” said Prime Minister Holness.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Holness said he has noted that with the discontinuation of the State of Public Emergency, crime and violence is trending upwards. He outlined the Government’s commitment to restore law and order in Spanish Town.
“The justice system must now split justice and send a signal to the criminal that they cannot maraud through Jamaica and get away with it. I want you to know that I will do everything in my power and I want you to know that I’m trying very hard to ensure that you are safe. It is not an easy job, but we are not daunted, and we will not give up because we know we are right,” said Prime Minister Holness.