The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) under the guidance of the Government of Jamaica is spearheading a number of investment and infrastructural projects in Montego Bay as per its mandate of making development happen for the people of Jamaica. The Corporation is collaborating with a number of key stakeholders in executing this mandate which includes the St. James Municipal Corporation, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), the Tourism Product Development Company Limited (TPDCo), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Montego Bay Marine Park among others.
‘The city of Montego Bay will not be left behind’ but rather will receive its share of the transformative and developmental works being rolled out across Jamaica, the glory days of the UDC are just beginning”, declared Senator Ranford Braham, UDC Chairman during his address at the Prime Minister’s Town Hall Meeting at the Closed Harbour Beach Park in Montego Bay (November 22).
As early as January 2019, he noted, ground will be broken on this very plot of land for the construction of the world class Closed Harbour Beach Park making good on the UDC’s promise of providing the people of Montego Bay with their own multipurpose state of the art park to spur further development for the city. The project designed and managed by the UDC will cost approximately J$1.3 billion and is partially funded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund.
In his main address, The Most Honourable Prime Minister Andrew Holness, expressed “change is coming to the city of Montego Bay…we have not turned a blind eye, it will be deliberate, instrumental and beneficial”.
The 16-acre Closed Harbour Beach Park project will be the starting point of a public coastal park system to include the Old Hospital Park and One Man Beach led by the UDC.

Upon completion, the TEF partially-funded project will see the widening of sidewalks and new perimeter fencing along Gloucester Avenue and Howard Cooke Boulevard and the construction of an interior park system featuring beach futsal and multi-purpose courts, kids play areas, food and shopping kiosks among other amenities. Montego Bay is also set to benefit from a waterfront rehabilitation project led by the UDC which will be implemented in tandem with the Closed Harbour Beach Project to rehabilitate the over four decades old groynes thus reducing shoreline erosion.
Added to the announced suite of developmental thrust in line for the city are the Seaside at Rosehall and Success Land developments for which the Corporation will re-approach the market in short order for resort, residential or commercial investment purposes. Additionally, the iconic Catherine Hall Entertainment complex owned by the UDC begins its transformation into a multi-use world-class entertainment facility in the coming year following the approval of a new lessee to manage the facility.
The UDC’s involvement in Montego Bay covers a number of projects inclusive of the establishment of the Hip Strip, management of the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex home of the iconic Reggae Sumfest, Montego Bay Convention Centre, Dualisation of Howard Cooke Boulevard, Montego Bay Sports Complex, provision of hundreds of educational spaces through the North Western Schools programme and the creation of thousands of homes.