Residents of Portmore have been encouraged to come up with projects that will benefit their communities and work towards implementing them.

The call came from Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, with responsibility for Local Government, Robert Montague, at a visioning symposium, held recently at the Portmore HEART Academy in Portmore, under the theme: 'My Community, Our Parish, One Jamaica - My Vision'.

"You, as community people, must take charge. Invite other members of your community to come together, bring in SDC, and then approach the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), and begin to write a project to build that community centre in your community. It is when we come together as Jamaicans and sit down and share a common vision for our community, that our communities will begin to flourish and grow," Montague said.

The state minister told the gathering to put aside their differences and spend less time "on what divides us, and concentrate more on what unites us."

Citing the vision and hard work done by Portmore residents to establish the municipality, Montague said what had been accomplished was in the past. "It is what we are going to do now that we will be judged on. It is not where you are coming from, it is where you are going," he said.

Following the state minister's presentation, residents participated in workshop sessions and discussed topics such as Infrastructure and the Environment, Economic Development, Social Services and Governance.