WESTERN BUREAU: MONTEGO BAY businessmen Winston Dear and Mark Kerr-Jarrett, yesterday assured the St. James Parish Council that funds are in place for a US$4.4 billion development plan which they have created to expand the city to the south.

Although no definite date has been set for the start of the multi-billion dollar development, dubbed 'Montego Bay South', Mr. Kerr-Jarrett told the Council that work on phase one would begin shortly.

The South development, a project of Barnett Estates Limited, has been on the drawing board since 1991 and is being proposed for some 1,300 acres that the Kerr-Jarrett family has in cane production in the Bogue area.

"We have sent our plan to the Ministry of Environment and Housing. The tractors will move in as soon as that is approved and sent back to us," he told the monthly general meeting of Councillors.

The developers say on completion, MoBay South, which is a collection of commercial centres, housing and recreational developments, will provide some 20,000 jobs for the city and create housing for between 10,000 to 14,000 persons.

"The funding is there...funding is available," he answered in response to queries from the Councillors.

Mr. Kerr-Jarrett, managing director of Barnett Estates, said a number of international funding agencies including some from the United States, England, Japan and Canada, as well as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) had pledged support.

"This is a project that the Prime Minister has taken great interest in. We have had three meetings through the Office of the Prime Minister and certainly with the UDC and now that we are closer to the finished product, we have come to you the local planning body to present it," he told the Council.

For his part, Mr. Dear gave the Councillors an idea of what the development will entail.

"The Barnett River will be made into an attraction, we will have the US type mall operations, a New Kingston type hotel, a 65-acre Fairfield National Park, plus three international football fields."

The Council also received assurances that the project would be compatible with the Greater Montego Bay Redevelopment 2014 Plan and that the South Plan would not affect the capacity of the new sewerage ponds just constructed on over 100 acres of land at Bogue.

The businessmen also promised to give more details to Councillors from north west St. James, where the development will take place.