KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is proposing to establish one of Jamaica’s largest communities — Portmore — into a parish if it is given a fresh mandate in next month’s general election.

The announcement was made a short while ago during the JLP’s virtual launch of its manifesto by Campaign Spokesperson Kamina Johnson Smith.

“Portmore will be our 15th parish. This was a vision shared by former Prime Minister [Bruce] Golding and it had not come to fruition. We are renewing that vision to ensure that Portmore, with its young vibrant population, will have the opportunity to have its own municipal corporation so that it can collect its own property taxes and determine its own development plan to ensure that it can be all that the citizens of Portmore want it to be,” said Johnson Smith.

She said a future JLP Administration will also oversee the creation of a Portmore Tech City Park, “leveraging the great youthful trained and trainable population that already exists”.

Johnson Smith said this will facilitate the expansion of the already existing business process outsourcing sector to grow into global support services.

This, she added, will ensure the development of greater opportunities in animation, accounting, and backend legal support to push employment.

Portmore is the largest community in the parish of St Catherine.

More information later.

Kimone Francis