By the Caribbean Journal staff

A long-in-the-works megaresort development has officially broken ground in Jamaica.

It’s called Amaterra, and it will be one of the country’s largest all-inclusive resorts, set in the heart of the fast-growing parish of Trelawny near Montego Bay.

The all-inclusive resort complex, whose first phase will include 1,200 rooms, could eventually build as many as 5,000 rooms in the Stewart Castle area of Trelawny on a 1,000-acre site with 550 meters of beachfront.

“Jamaica is open for business,” Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness said at the groundbreaking event. “I want to thank the Amaterra group for investing in Jamaica.”

For now, the first phase of the plan includes 1,200 rooms, spread across three properties: a 400-key adults-only resort and two 400-key family resorts.

A rendering of the resort.

The project, spearheaded by Jamaica’s Keith Russell, will be supported by funding from a Qatar-based investment group called Rexton Capital and Tourism & Leisure Development International, a resort development firm responsible for some of the Caribbean’s most notable resort projects, including Secrets Cap Cana and the Hyatt Ziva Cancun, among others.

The groundbreaking ceremony.

It will also include an entertainment and shopping complex, along with a waterpark, several pools and a spa, among other amenities.

Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness (center) at the groundbreaking ceremony in Trelawny this week.

DCM Architecture and Engineering has been tapped as the design lead on the project, a company that is no stranger to Jamaica; indeed, its portfolio includes AMResorts’ Sunscape Splash in Montego Bay and its Zoetry Montego Bay.

— CJ