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Robert Stephens<\/strong>, Director of Port Royal Development Company<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Port Royal<\/strong>\u00a0is Jamaica’s diamond in the rough and we need to carefully plan and sustainably develop this jewel which will make us so proud we will be happy to share it with the world.<\/p>\n

To begin with, we must first understand and commit to the concept of sustainable development which is focused on ensuring that the development, first and foremost, benefits the people of the community.<\/p>\n

The first steps in sustainability planning and development, which were undertaken by the Port Royal Development Company (PRDCL) began with consultation and involvement of the people and the representatives of the people in the planning phase. The citizens association, the councillor, the member of parliament and the caretakers and other leaders in the community were integrally involved.<\/p>\n

Secondly, before any construction and development started, the plans were exposed and shared with the people so they could study, ask questions and have inputs based on their valuable local knowledge for any adjustments and fine-tuning to be made.<\/p>\n

Education, training and general human resource development<\/strong>\u00a0is critical at the early stages of planning to ensure the people of the community are prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that will come from development and that they are not mere bystanders and the jobs and business opportunities are shared only by outsiders with little or no upliftment for the people in the community. PRDCL engaged the services of The Edutech Centre to guide the programme and established\u00a0a Learning Centre in the Port Royal All Age School with the assistance of JSIF.\u00a0 At the time\u00a0training programmes were implemented in Port Royal with twenty computers installed in the school so the children could be exposed to computers at an early age and adults could use them for learning in the evenings and on weekends.<\/p>\n

Planning<\/strong> must always start from a position of taking careful stock of the state of the community in terms of the socio-cultural and economic environment.\u00a0 This assessment is critical to identify the key issues that need to be addressed. PRDCL employed the services of Dr. Ian Boxill and his team of researchers for the UWI to conduct a thorough assessment of the Port Royal Community and this formed the basis for developing our sustainable development plans.<\/p>\n

Our assessment of the state of the Port Royal community twenty years ago identified several critical areas which needed to be addressed in order to sustainably develop Port Royal. These have only become more critical to be addressed if we are serious about sustainability and include:<\/p>\n