Mayor of Kingston Desmond McKenzie points to a diagram of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) for the Downtown Kingston Redevelopment Programme during a function at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston on Wednesday. Looking on (from left) are Prime Minister Bruce Golding, UDC Chairman Louis Williams and acting UDC General Manager Joy Douglas. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

Another elaborate plan has been drafted for the redevelopment of downtown Kingston.

This time, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) has rolled out the diagram for the phased redevelopment of the nation's capital to turn Kingston into a business and cultural hub flanked by residential lots and entertain-ment districts.

Launched at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on Wednesday night, the plan was met with delight, caution and outright rejection.

Oversight

Member of Parliament for Central Kingston Ronald Thwaites objected to the plan and stormed out of the conference centre on Wednesday night.

Thwaites believed there was an oversight of some residents of downtown Kingston who are in need of state and private sector assistance.

"The plan excludes a major portion of downtown Kingston, that is the area of East Street," he said. "It says little or nothing about improving the conditions of the thousands of people who live there," said Thwaites, whose Central Kingston constituency includes the East Street area to which he referred.

"It is highly discriminatory so there was no point in my being a part of it," the People's National Party member of parliament told The Gleaner.

Thwaites wants Prime Minister Bruce Golding to address the concerns. He also wants the plan to reflect other ventures such as the Rae Town Fishing Beach and East Queen Street, which he said was an entertainment hot spot.

Reacting to Thwaites' departure from the conference centre, Golding said the plan might have included large aspects of his West Kingston constituency because it is generally known as downtown Kingston.

"I'm sorry he didn't stay because I wanted to explain to him," the prime minister said.

He also pleaded with Thwaites not to reject the plan, as it was a work in progress.

Meanwhile, Golding said he was apprehensive about the function to launch the downtown re-development plan.

"We have had so many experiences of grandiose announcements which create expectations that are then completely dashed," he said, while urging the major players in Kingston to work to ensure that the plan becomes a reality.

Social intervention

Joy Douglas, acting general manager at the UDC, told the gathering that the project would also seek to address some of the ills of communities in and around downtown Kingston.

"Social intervention is going to have to be an integral part of the redevelopment programme and in that regard the UDC is putting in place the necessary structures," she said.

The proposed project has already started with the construction of the downtown Kingston Multimodal transportation Centre and the refurbishing of the St William Grant Park.

The project is expected to be completed in 2012.