Groundbreaking Ceremony for Port Antonio Bypass
Keynote Address
by
Dr the Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
At the
Groundbreaking Ceremony for Port Antonio Bypass
On
June 26, 2025
_______________________________________________________________
We’re gathered here to celebrate, to mark a major achievement. This is a civic function. This is a function for the entire Jamaica and particularly for the people of Portland because I preside over the government as Prime Minister, but I administer the government on behalf of all the people of Jamaica. Whether you voted for me or not, whether you’re a part of my political organization or not, every Jamaican is served by the government I administer, is served fairly, equally and we are broadcasting today for those Jamaicans who may not be under the stent, but who are equally interested in the infrastructure development of their country. This is for them as well, including those who may not want this government to do it, may want another government to do it, but that’s fine. We are the ones doing it now, but it’s still for your benefit.
I acknowledge all Jamaicans who are in this room, under this tent with us. I like to say my government is a big tent. It finds space for everyone. Everyone is accommodated, everyone is embraced, everyone can feel that they have a place and a space but I also want to acknowledge those persons who are watching us via the internet being live streamed so I make a special point of ‘bigging up’ the people on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook where we’re streaming live, and in particular the people on YouTube. And I have to do that because this has now become a standard community which we have to speak to.
When I speak to audiences such as an audience like this, you can have a sense as to what is the mood and what the audience already believes, but in the broadcast world, whether it is in your home, in your couch, on television, or you are wherever watching TikTok live or watching some video or some reel or something, it’s very difficult to gauge what the prevailing view is, and sometimes false information can be brought to you, and for many Jamaicans, seeing is believing. You don’t get a chance to say, but how would this really go, because you believe what is placed in front of you, and you are in your quiet space. There is nobody beside you who may pinch you and say, foolishness, nuttn no go suh, here is the truth, and you form an impression.
The challenge is that it’s one thing for a random video or reel to get to you on your phone, and you look at it, and you believe it or not. But the way in which the information world works now is that, depending on your preexisting bias, you may say, you know what, I believe this. But you go one step further, you click I like it, and you go one step further, you share it. There is something that is operating in your phone that you don’t even know. It’s called an algorithm, and when you express a view, positive or negative, to the content that you have just consumed. What that algorithm does is say I know what you now like so I’m going to keep sending the things that you like and so what it does to society as a whole, it removes editorial control, which can be good, can be bad, but it keeps balance in the society if the editorialization is proper.
It removes that, and what can happen is that persons who are not quite able to filter information or don’t have broad knowledge to distinguish what is fact and what is fiction, will end up getting caught in either a loop of fiction and end up with all kinds of perverse views of the society believing lies and half truths. Or you could have a really good edifying experience where you’re constantly fed factual information, but what happens is more the latter than the former, that a lot of people get caught in extreme positions believing fake news and developing perverse views.
Many societies, not just Jamaica, wrestle with this. You will see this presentation that I’m making now being made by all kinds of other countries who are concerned about how their society is being shaped by algorithms, shaped by a calculation that has nothing to do with the actual situation of the country and something that is open to being manipulated. It is a great danger for us, and in particular in the time of an election, where the competition for your mind is even more intense, that someone could spin a lie and impact the outcome of an election. And this has been shown and proven in many countries, not just Jamaica so I do take the time whenever I’m presenting, not just to speak to the people in front of me, that I can gauge your response and I’m in that feedback loop so I can make various comments and help to modify and change and moderate, but particularly to those who are trapped in front of their screens, who have nobody else to help to moderate how they’re going to view, we have to bring them into the conversation and to empower you to be candles of information and lights of knowledge in your community and in your various spaces.
That’s just a preface to my presentation, so having said that, I know that the Honourable Robert Nesta Morgan, the Honourable Daryl Vaz and Mrs Vaz are under instructions that whatever they say to the public must be factual. They are under instructions that whatever they say to the public must be positive. You will not hear from the platform of the government anything that is negative, anything that is fake, anything that is not of the highest integrity of information.
We have committed to being the voice of positivity. We have committed to being constructive in whatever we say. We are not going to rely on negativity of tearing down people and focusing on the gutter. We are going to raise your heads, raise your minds, and we are looking upward.
Let me also acknowledge our permanent secretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and the head of the National Works Agency, Mr. EG Hunter, a longstanding master civil servant. He knows what I mean when I say that. There is a famous British comedy called Yes Minister. I don’t know if any of you ever watched that, but somehow EG reminds me of the main character in that.
Of course, allow me to also acknowledge His Worship the Mayor, Bishop Councillor Paul Thompson, who preached for us. Certainly, he will not overtake you, overseer. And of course, I must acknowledge China Harbour that has been with us now for more than 10, almost 15 years as a construction partner, very much entrenched in the Jamaican construction landscape, taking on massive projects.
And since I’m on the subject of massive construction projects, it is important that Jamaica develops its own capabilities in this regard. And China Harbour is very much aware of this, and increasingly they are using training and facilitating the development of local talent. And on this project, we look forward to that. In the Montego Bay bypass project, when I toured it last, I was very pleased to see a significant number. In fact, I would say more than 90% of the workforce is Jamaican, from the steelman to the engineer. I think that was a very good sign.
Allow me also to acknowledge other stakeholders from the community, our police, members of the church and other members of civil society who are here. Today marks the breaking of barriers that have long held back the full economic potential of this beautiful parish and people, and it represents the dawning of a new era of mobility, opportunity and resilience for Portland.
From the early days of our administration, we made a clear commitment to modernize Jamaica’s infrastructure and ensure that no parish, no town, no community is left behind. The Port Antonio Bypass Project is the latest expression of that commitment. It represents an investment in Portland’s growth, in tourism potential, in its ability to attract capital, create jobs, and build wealth for its citizens. Pay attention to those words.
There are some people who love the poor and want to keep them poor. We love the poor too, but we hate poverty, and we want the poor to become wealthy. We are not ashamed of wealth and prosperity. We believe every Jamaican can achieve wealth and prosperity, and we’re not ashamed of that. And that’s why we do everything in our power to cut all the dimensions of poverty. And I know when you hear the word wealth, you immediately think money.
Money is one dimension of wealth. Health is a dimension of wealth. You could have all the money in the world, but you will spend it when you find out you’re not healthy. You’ll give it away to get your health. So when we say we want our Jamaicans to be wealthy, what we’re really saying is we want them to be healthy. Yes, that’s just one dimension of wealth.
Mobility is another dimension of wealth. Do you know how many Jamaicans live in Portland and never visit Hanover? Never going to Kingston? One thing they say is ‘the road is too bad’, and then they will say ‘I can’t manage the crime.’ But can you imagine how much wider and better your life would be if you were able to move about, to travel to go to work, to get better work opportunities, and therefore the building of the roads and the bypasses that help to create another dimension of wealth in Jamaicans’ lives.
Purposeful employment is another form of wealth. You know, a lot of people believe that you only work for money, but a lot of people work for fulfilment. Do something with your life that means something. So, never confuse when we talk about prosperity that all we are talking about is money. No, we want the entire human being to develop and to be able to fulfil themselves and to ultimately pursue their happiness.
How does a highway do that? Yes, I mentioned one mobility, but you also want to be safe. Not just safe from criminals and crime, but you also want to be safe from the impacts of climate and weather. Port Portland is a parish. Port Antonio, the main town that is on the seaside, is a coastal low-lying area, and it is often impacted by weather events. How many weather events have impacted your wealth, destroyed your home, or destroyed the road? Quite a bit, and so what we are doing now is to move your road inland, protecting your mobility, protecting your other assets, land and businesses, and that will ensure resilience that should there be a weather event that hits Portland, a part of your wealth and prosperity will be preserved.
So, this project is not just about Portland, it’s not just about infrastructure; this bypass is a strategic initiative with national importance for decades. Port Antonio has been one of Jamaica’s hidden gems, blessed with natural beauty and rich cultural heritage, but held back by limited access and inadequate infrastructure. The current route through the Town Centre, while scenic, adds to the traffic congestion in the town. As I said, it is vulnerable to flooding and coastal erosion, and it cannot accommodate the scale of development we envision for this area.
The Port Antonio Bypass will solve this. The new 18-kilometre corridor, divided into two phases, will divert through traffic from the fragile, congested coastal town centre, cutting travel time, reducing transport cost, and unlocking vast development potential inland. In so doing, it’ll unlock new commercial zones, stimulate land development and create room for expansion while maintaining Port Antonio as a quiet coastal retreat, but with a thriving economic hub. So, the idea is not to change the nature of Port Antonio. What is happening now is that the nature of Port Antonio is being changed because of the volume of congestion in the town and so what we want to do is to move the traffic that doesn’t need to be in the town out of the town and that town, which should really be rich in its culture and history is becoming very commercialized and so it’s losing that value. So, in creating a bypass, we will eventually attract most of the commercial operations out of that valuable cultural and historic space and leave that to develop in the way it should be developed, while having the commercial area specifically focused. And we have started that by building, and that started a couple of months ago, the Boundbrook Commercial Centre.
This is not just a one-off investment. This is part of a larger plan to develop the economy of Portland in a way that preserves its historic and cultural assets. This is a targeted people-centred development that will expand opportunities for local farmers, craft vendors, tour operators, and small businesses. This is development that will connect the coast to the countryside, the farms to the resorts, and the world to Portland.
The Port Antonio Bypass is being executed in two phases. Today, we are launching Phase 1 from Norwich to Turtle Crawl Harbour, a seven-kilometre stretch of a four-lane roadway with safety-enhancing median barriers, newly constructed bridges, upgraded drain infrastructure and designated bus shelters. We are reshaping the infrastructure landscape to meet the future.
The government of Jamaica has committed approximately US$81 million for the construction of this project, and another $521 million for land acquisition, with over 200 parcels to be acquired in Phase 1 alone. The National Land Agency has already begun the acquisition process, ensuring that every affected landowner is treated with fairness and dignity under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act.
This is a massive undertaking by any measure, and I want to recognize the work of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, the National Work Agency, the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, and of course, our project contractor, China Harbour Engineering Limited, for bringing us to this point.
Now, let us also understand that this project is not occurring in isolation. The Port Antonio Bypass is a continuation of the transformative Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project, which spans from Harbour View in Kingston, all the way to St Thomas and now into Portland. The Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project is not only the largest infrastructure investment in Jamaica’s history, it is the most ambitious reshaping of Jamaica’s spatial economy since independence. By extending the SCHIP into Portland, we are literally and figuratively placing Portland on the map of 21st-century development. We are ensuring that Portland is not at the end of the road but Portland is the road to prosperity.
With this project, we are laying the foundation for something bigger than a bypass, and I want all of you to pay attention to this because this is what is going to come as soon as the bypass is finished. Through the Port Authority of Jamaica, we engaged world renowned architect Gordon Gill, who is actually Jamaican, to develop a master plan for Port Antonio.
The vision of Port Antonio is to create a high-value, low-density tourism destination that will preserve the unique history and character of Port Antonio as the birthplace of Caribbean tourism. Port Antonio will become the St Barts of the Northern Caribbean. I know a lot of people don’t know what that is, but the idea is to create a high-value tourism product, which is quite distinct from the other tourism areas that exist in Jamaica. The strategy of the government, for all of you who are listening, you will hear me talk about the national economy and how the national economy is doing well.
Now, people in their parish, in their towns, might say how does the national economy benefit my household economy? When I tell you that the national debt is cut in half, you still have your loan to pay at the bank, you still have your hire purchase bill to pay. When I tell you that unemployment is cut in half, well, more than that, unemployment moved from 13.8% down to 3.5%, you might still see some unemployed youngsters in your community. When I tell you that we have run the country so well that we have not asked you for any new taxes, and you’re saying, but I’m still paying tax so you might not reconcile what has happened in the economy, which is what is allowing me to stand here today to announce a US$80 million project for this area because that couldn’t happen before. That’s why it never happened before, because previous governments didn’t run the economy well, so they never had the money to do it. We ran the economy well, so we are using the dividends.
A part of our strategy is to create a local economy where your household is more tied into that local economy. And what is that local economy? The local economy would be the industries that are located close to you. Right now, some of you have to go to town to work. If you want healthcare, you have to go to town. If you want some government service, you have to go to town, so what we want to do is to create a local economy that employs you where you live, provides the services where you live, more of your taxes get spent because it’s generated there, and you are vested in it so you don’t have to wait on the national budget to deal with some of your local water. Your economy generates the revenues, and that’s the strategy, so we are doing that in St Thomas.
We have built a nucleus, meaning a core area in which commerce can take place and then from that, there are some other concentric areas that will connect to that, and so St Thomas is going to have literally its own economy. It will have an industry in mining. It will have its urban centre, and we are developing its tourism potential, and all of that will be underpinned by greater agriculture and fishing.
For Portland, you are going to have a similar high-value tourism product with a strong commercial urban centre, agriculture and fishing. You will also have what I like to call cultural and historical tourism as a value here as well, so you’re going to have another strong economy. We’re going to do the same thing for St Mary. Ocho Rios already has an economy, and you can see Ocho Rios just rapidly expanding the number of houses because they have an economy there.
Trelawny, we’re going to focus there as well. We have 50 acres of land that we’re going to be building a new town centre there, helping the old town to be able to regulate itself, take the congestion out of the old town so that that can realise its true potential as well.
St James has a booming economy. And then we’re going to go into Hanover, which we have started to map out. We’re going to put in a bypass and realign some roads there. We’re going to do the same thing for Westmoreland. Every parish will have its local economy.
I want the people of Portland to understand what the local economy is going to look like. So the vision for Port Antonio is to create a high-value, low-density tourism destination, as I had said before, and to make this place the leading destination in the Caribbean. The key components of this master plan include a cruise ship terminal along the Eastern Belt of the East Harbour.
Other people have tried it. They put in a little thing, and it never works, and it sits down for how long because they don’t have any vision. They just put a little thing there and believe that’s how development comes. They put a little marina and one or two boats come there but to do this thing, you have to think big, you have to be able to invest, and you have to be able to attract people to come in.
And so you notice we are very strategic. We’re doing the things that are going to attract people to come in. We’re going to do the cruise ship terminal along the Eastern Belt of the East Harbour. We’re going to do some high-end hotels and villas on the folly lands, enhancement of the lands currently used as a cricket field, we’re going to create a multipurpose sport and entertainment amphitheatre there, so you can play cricket and football, and you have entertainment; it’s going to be a really wonderful place for the community, a new pedestrian promenade along the shoreline that connects the east and west harbours, so you’ll be able to walk along the coast, the sea front and ride along if you choose and sit along. And I know some people do some fishing there sometimes, and cast your fishing line if you want. It’ll be a lovely place for pedestrian movement to properly enjoy your town. We’re going to develop further the Port Antonio Marina. There’ll be a new public park along the waterfront similar to the Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay, so Port Antonio will have its own beach park. It will be lovely. By the way, the design work has already begun. We have already started the design work on these things.
We will redevelop the Musgrave Market into the crown jewel of the Port Antonio Waterfront experience. We’re going to change what you consider a market into what a real market should be: clean, spacious, orderly, where everybody can come, shop, eat, dine, and make it into an experience. And then, of course, which we have already started, the Boundbrook Urban Centre, which will be similar to the Moran Bay Urban Centre, has 148,000 square feet of purpose-built commercial space, and that will have a government centre in it, and the municipal corporation will be housed there. Over 3000 Jamaicans are expected to be employed by entities within this development.
Importantly, Navy Island will be preserved as a nature ecotourism reserve as part of the ecological heritage of Portland and Jamaica. So, I want you to imagine a Port Antonio that is welcoming boutique cruise ships without traffic congestion, a Boston Bay that draws in global food connoisseurs and local entrepreneurs alike, a parish where ecologies- meaning community tourism and adventure tourism flourish alongside local farming and craft.
This bypass allows us to begin reimagining the Port Antonio Centre by diverting through traffic, and we will create the space for a safer, more walkable, more livable town core. The urban renewal that will follow can finally reflect the charm, potential, and historical richness of the Port Antonio that we all wish for.
Now, somebody might be in the audience saying, Prime Minister, this sounds nice, it will take a lot of years, but I don’t have any water. In other words, the high-level vision that sounds so good is always tempered by the immediate need; what is it that we need now. And there are those who will say, don’t bother with this, give me the water now. And governments face this challenge, how to invest because we’re seeing a little shower now, and indeed, water comes from the sky, but water is not free. Water requires investment. Pipes and pumps don’t fall from the sky, so you have to invest in it. So, the question is, how do you structure your investment? You have to make investments that are going to deliver future revenues to support current consumption.
Put it to you this way. There are some people who would prefer to eat off everything today and have nothing tomorrow. Investment is like agriculture. You have to plant today in order to reap tomorrow, but you also have to make sure that you have a little bit to eat while the crop is growing. For those people who would wish to dismiss these kinds of investments, let me point out that we are dealing with immediate needs as well. We are spending, for example, on a local lift station, $22 million to put in lift station, which is basically a pumping station that will bring the water up to a level, put it in a storage tank so it can be gravity fed and that will supply the craft market and Carder Park.
We’re dealing with the water situation, but that’s just a small one. The project is already underway, $3 billion from Upper Fellowship going through all of Port Antonio, going up to Snow Hill to replace and rehabilitate pumps, pipes and a new plant for water. That’s a massive investment, $3 billion for water. I want you to appreciate that the government is balancing the immediate needs with the long-term needs that will generate the revenues to deal with even more immediate needs.
We’re doing this project, which will create an economy which will give us the revenues to spend on even greater social projects for you, but we’re not leaving you to die of thirst while the road is being fixed. We understand that, and so we are doing both things at the same time. Good roads and proper water supply don’t fall from the sky. You need a good government running a good economy to be able to deliver these benefits.
And I want to point out to you that in our sister country, Guyana, I made this point earlier today, Guyana is doing similar developments to Jamaica. If you ever have the chance to go to Guyana, daily Guyana is changing building massive highways and bridges and new buildings in Georgetown, its capital. The place is really transforming, and do you know why that is happening? They have discovered oil.
We weren’t doing this, what we are doing here 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, but we are doing it now. Did we discover oil? What is the difference? What has changed? What did we discover in Jamaica? We discovered good government. Good government can deliver value as much as oil can. There are many countries that are rich in natural resources, but they have problems because of government.
Government matters. Who administers your affairs matters. Yes, I get it, there are many Jamaicans who support governments like how they support football teams. Desmond McKenzie is a big supporter of Manchester United. I am a Liverpool fan, and I know when Liverpool won the Premiership, and I put up my Liverpool shirt; a lot of people were upset with me. That’s how it is, but the consequence of supporting the wrong football team is neither here nor there. The consequence of supporting the wrong government is.
So, I make the clear point to everyone listening that government matters and there is a deliberate attempt by some to say that government doesn’t matter, but yet they are saying let me be government. There are some who are saying the reduction in crime is not as a result of the government, but they’re saying let me the government and I will even reduce the crime more. Which is it?
So, I say to the Jamaicans who are watching, who are listening, I urge you to think about the choice that you have. Elections are not about football teams. Don’t believe that all of this is going to continue when you change government. Don’t believe that all of this continues, because somehow a different government will do the same thing we are doing.
I am a realist. I know I’ve done a lot of work. There is no one who can say that I don’t work hard. There are some people who will say they are working, working, working, but I am the real one who has done the work, and you can see the work almost every day. But there are those who are irrational. There are those who don’t vote on reason. There are those who are merely supporting a football team, and you saw it. They gathered at Heroes Park, and when asked why are you here, I am here supporting my football team, whatever it is.
You cannot allow those people to determine your future, so I urge you, as I close my presentation to you, as I have shown you the work that we have done, as I have shown you what is to come, and for which you can have faith, not empty faith, but real faith. Faith is the substance of the things that you have hoped for, so when you see this highway, when you see all of what we have said, it gives you the substance, but we also give you the evidence of it. When we show you the Moran Bay Urban Centre, when we show you the South Coast Highway Improvement Projects, when we show you what we have done with the economy, you know you can have faith in this government that when we tell you something, it’s not an empty promise. We’re not selling horses that can’t fly.
So, my friends gathered, and those on social media, and those watching on broadcast, in newscasts, I urge you to think carefully on the choice before you in our democracy, to look at the work that has been done and the commitment made for future work and development. We believe that we are the best choice for the people of Jamaica. We have worked hard. We have done what you have required. I urge you, choose Jamaica.