Public-Private Sector Partnership in Port Royal

Photograph by Dr Alexander D Gulland, MD, 1865. Collection: Firestone Library, Princeton University

       At the end of 2014, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) announced that two buildings in Port Royal which had once housed naval officers were now being used as dormitories for students at the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI). This restoration was a collaborative effort between JNHT, CMI, and private sector investors. The JNHT is pioneering public-private sector partnership whereby sites under their remit are leased to organisations who then restore and use the buildings.
       The JNHT hopes that a similar initiative will transform the Old Naval Hospital into a shopping centre with conference facilities. Plans are in place also for the transformation of old King’s House and the adjoining People’s Museum in Spanish Town into a venue that could provide a Devon House-style experience.
Excerpted from the FGSJ  Newsletter/Spring 2015