MANDEVILLE, Manchester — It has been eight-and-a-half years since incumbent member of parliament (MP) Peter Bunting has been in Manchester Central.

As he vies for his third term in the constituency, he said that two of the major projects on his agenda going forward are additional improvements at the Mandeville Regional Hospital and expansion of Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) in the constituency.

“I would like to see the business process outsourcing continue to grow. Now that we’ve got the first company here, I don’t want that to be the end of it. I would like to see another couple hundred thousand square feet of BPO space constructed and occupied,” Bunting told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday, Nomination Day.

He believes that when Sutherland Global, which has recently opened a call centre in Mandeville, gets up to full speed and with at least two other similar facilities, BPO will more than compensate for the loss of jobs in South/Central Jamaica that resulted from the downturn of the bauxite/alumina sector.

“I also want to see through the Mandeville Regional moving from a Type B in transition to a Type A. It would be the only Type A hospital in the centre of the island, really serving the areas: Clarendon, South Trelawny and St Elizabeth as well as Manchester,” Bunting said.

He said that, outside of the different projects that he has undertaken in the constituency, he has built a “capable” political team, which includes councillors and councillor candidates.

Bunting said, however, that despite his achievements in Manchester Central he is not taking anything for granted and seemed to have pulled out all the stops for a vibrant throng of supporters on nomination day.

His Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) opponent in the constituency, Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, said that he is confident going into the February 25 general election because residents need a change from the leadership to which they are accustomed and his party has the supporters that will actually go to the polls.

“This is not a big show. Big show doesn’t win election. What wins election is the people coming out to vote. We have the people out there who are ready to vote, to give us the victory,” he said.

Superintendent of the Manchester Police Division Vendolyn Cameron-Powell confirmed that it was a peaceful Nomination Day in all the constituencies in Manchester.

Incumbent Mikael Phillips (PNP) was nominated in Manchester North Western along with Omar Frith for the JLP; long-time MP and former cabinet minister, Audley Shaw was again nominated to represent the JLP in Manchester North Eastern. As was the case in December 2011, Shaw will be opposed by businessman Val Wint of the People’s National Party.

In Manchester Southern, there were two new candidates. Educator Michael Stewart has replaced long-serving PNP MP and former Speaker of the House Michael Peart. For the JLP, young educator Hidran McKulsky was nominated.