Honourable Olivia Grange
Kingston, 2 January 2018 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has issued the following statement in light of concerns about a traffic pile-up on the Palisadoes Road on Monday, 1 January 2018.
The Minister’s Statement follows:
“I have taken note of the complaints of several people who were severely affected by the traffic pile-up on the Palisadoes Road leading to the Norman Manley International Airport on New Year’s Day and I wish to make the following clear:
- the declaration of Fort Rocky as an entertainment zone is restricted to the specific location known as Fort Rocky, which are the ruins of the fort that was constructed after World War II;
- the declaration does not include any other place, including the Palisadoes Road, Gun Boat Beach or anywhere along the corridor leading to the Norman Manley International Airport.
I also wish to make clear that the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport does not grant permits or licences for the staging of entertainment events — those are dealt with by the relevant Municipal Corporation and Police division — and did not grant permits/licences for the event that was held at Gun Boat Beach on New Year’s Day.
The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, does not support the decision to hold an event of that nature at Gun Boat Beach having assessed the location and found it unsuitable to be declared part of the entertainment zone.
As the Ministry with oversight for entertainment, we are in the process of developing a mechanism to streamline and monitor applications for events outside of the proposed entertainment zones. We are working to bring all stakeholders together including promoters, the Police, Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Jamaica Music Society to ensure good order in the management and execution of entertainment events.”