rudolph brown - Portmore's mayor Keith Hinds, joins Scotiabank volunteers as they clean the Hellshire beach. The clean-up was organised by the National Environment and Planning Agency on International Coastal Clean-Up day, last Saturday.

Plans are afoot to make Portmore a tourist destination.

This was disclosed by Mayor of Portmore Keith Hinds recently. Mayor Hinds, in an exclusive interview with THE PORTMORE STAR, said that he had discussions with Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, and the minister is looking at Portmore as a possible tourist destination. "We must recognise that Portmore internationally is a friendly name, and cruise ships can in fact dock in Portmore, because we are right adjacent to the Kingston Harbour," Mayor Hinds disclosed. He said he does not see a difficulty having cruise ships docking in Portmore so tourists can walk the streets of the sunshine city and buy from shops on the various malls in the municipality.

developing historic sites

Mayor Hinds stressed that he is planning to develop the historical sites around the Forum Beach. "Personally I would like to see a craft market in some of those old stone buildings, I would like also to see the Forum Hotel come back into full *la*hm. I think the time is now right after so many years since the 1960's , we never found the real use for that building and the time has come to put it back into full use as a tourism product," he said.

"When I think of the prospect of having a marina close to the waterfront and a full grown hotel going in that area the prospects are just wonderful," a beaming Hinds continued.

The Forum Hotel is currently owned by the Urban Development Corporation.

Mayor Hinds said that the present squatters at the Forum Beach will have to move if the ideas come to fruition. He stated that the government will need to relocate these people for development to take place in the area.

He also touched on eco-tourism in the Hellshire hills, and the good prospect of the Two Sisters Cave in Hellshire as tourist attractions.

Mayor Hinds stressed that tourism can be a big foreign exchange earner for the municipality and would ease the unemployment rate of the island's third city.