Mar 05
The Planning Institute of Jamaica has just published A Growth-Inducement Strategy for Jamaica in the Short- and Medium-Term, which had inputs from a large number of stakeholders from the public and private sectors, NGOs and community-based organisations. This is a welcome development and we hope that there will be a liveley debate on the strategy as the PIOJ moves forward with implementation. Some preliminary comments are posted below and we invite readers to join the exchange.
On a quick reading the strategy appears to be coherent, well-thought out, logical and the result of widespread consultation with key stakeholders. If it goes even a small way towards “Unleashing entrepreneurial dynamism by unlocking latent wealth tied up in idle assets” it will help to infuse some much-needed dynamism into the Jamaican economy. Here are some initial observations.
1. I am curious about the apparent absence of any UWI involvement in the process. If we are to develop an indgenous capacity for economic stategising then local analysts must be involved in preparation and evaluation so that there are opportunties for learning, including among faculty and graduate students. A start can be made towards addressing this lacuna by inviting appropriate UWI departments to organise a seminar on the strategy.
2. Two apparent omissions from the strategy are (a) the role of CARICOM/CSME in growth-inducement; and (b) maintenance of environmental sustainability and building of climate change resilience as integral parts of the strategy (mainstreaming). Both of these are mentioned in the Vision 2030 strategy by the way. It isn’t clear if these omisions are becasue they are considered to be irrelevant to Jamaica’s short and medium term strategy–which I think would be big mistake–or they were just inadvertent (Or maybe they are there and I just missed them on a my quick reading).
I hope we hear from the PIOJ on this and in any case, that there is much attention and further discussion of the strategy–and of course, effective implementation!
Much thanks for your initial comments on the Growth Strategy. The Strategy was put together by the “many UWI masters level graduates
” at the PIOJ working under my supervision and mentored by Don Harris. As a group they are well trained in economic and social theory and have a good platform for the economic and social philosophy, public policy and public scholarship paradigm and works we have asked them to be adept with. The major theme of your comments was the aim of the Strategy, and we believe that the Strategy represents a workable paradigm for the country. I suspect that once you have had the opportunity to more carefully read the document he will appreciate that the Strategy, and especially its appendix A4 which is titled Strengthening the Resilience of the Build and Natural Environment, addresses forcefully his concerns from an economic policy perspective. Interestingly, the PIOJ was just designated by the UN one of the three regional centers for addressing Climate Change and Resilience issues (see PIOJ website for the recent press conference at OPM and the press release). We have just established a Secretariat and are getting ready to begin getting and coordinating international grants towards risk mitigation and management in this area.
On the issue of the lack of UWI presence in the extensive work in economic and social philosophy and public scholarship that informed the Strategy, ironically I have a meeting with the UWI Principal (Mona) scheduled for early this week and I suspect the broader issue of PIOJ’s potential engagement with UWI, UT, NCU, etc. will come up for discussion.I find all the benefits and concerns on the matter that were raised by you to be valid and deserving of intentional attention. However, as I write I don’t have a clear sense on the best path to addressing the issue. I do favour and welcome your suggestion that departments at UWI organize seminars on the Growth Strategy.
Sincerely,
Gladstone Hutchinson (Dr.)
Director-General
Planning Institute of Jamaica
Overall the strategies proposed by the PIOJ are moving in the right direction however there is still too much dependence on GOJ driving economic growth especially through the NWA and Ministry of Transport. I have thoroughly reviewed the documents and there are some areas where more detail is required or there was no mention at all and therefore my comments are as follows:
1. Port of Kingston- though the transshipment and logistics potential are mentioned in a line, there is no specific action recommended. I beleive that there must be a decision to have a joint private/public sector team put together a proposal to merge KCT with KWL and seek a shipping line partner (Chinese likely) to develop the Port into a major regional Hub for shipping and logistics for the Americas. The Port capacity is 3 million TEU’s but it is now only handling around 1.5 million TEU’s. The potential is therefore existing but a partner such as China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) who signed an MOU with PAJ in 2005 needs to be brought back to the table. This can generate tremendous short and medium term returns to the economy and has the potential to creat at least 100,000 jobs.
2. ICT & Industrial Park- Though there is mention of plans to develop 200,000 sf of space for the industry by FCJ in Portmore and Mo-Bay, I believe that the bigger picture must be for this area to be looked at where a prospectus for investment by the private sector in ICT space and maybe a REIT could be developed including the existing space owned by GOJ through FCJ and The Free Zones. The economic impact from this area can be within three years but work needs to start immediately. The focus should be on the Naggo Head area of Portmore where the FCJ owns the land and subdivision plans are approved and Downtown Kingston where office buildings for the Financial services Center aspects of the ICT industry can be located. The inordinate amount of time and energy spent on Caymanas as a greenfield area for industrial park and ICT development needs to be focussed instead on Portmore and Downtown Kingston and areas near to the Port from Marcus Garvey Drive to Spanish Town Road where urban renewal can be quickly implemented as the basic infrastructure exists. When these areas are near saturation then we can turn our attention to Caymanas or other Greenfield areas.
3. Tourism growth has received limited attention in the strategy as there is only a passing mention of health/medical/heritage and sports tourism and the strategy is to develop new tourism market segments and promote Jamaica as a sports tourism destination. There needs to be more specific action plans developed. In particular I suggest the following:
* Negril/Ocho Rios/Mo-Bay improvements- The plans prepared by TPDCO and UDC/PAJ for the major resort towns of Mo-Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril now need to be urgently implemented and can be done via joint private and public sector collaboration. This needs to be addressed urgently especially for Ocho Rios which Carnival Cruise Line is anxious to see proceed.
* Mo-Bay Free Zone- this area can now be divested to the private sector by inviting proposals for the expansion and development of the area into a mixed use ICT and shopping Mall to serve the needs of visitors to Jamaica especially out of South and Central America;
* Mo-Bay Marketing as a Shopping, Entertainment, Meeting and Convention Hub now needs a concerted effort by a joint private /public sector team. An airline partner out of South/Central America to now develop a direct link between destinations in this area and Mo-Bay is critical;
* Port Royal/Kingston/Spanish Town- a prospectus should now be prepared by Port Royal Development Company to attract the necessary private sector investment to get the historic Triangle of Port Royal/Kingston/Spanish Town developed as a major Heritage Tourism Attraction and Cruise Ship Port of Call;
* Sports Tourism- though this is mentioned briefly a more detailed action plan is required where the sports associations in collaboration with the private and public sector can organize more international sporting events in Jamaica so we can develop as a sporting Hub for the Americas.
4. Environmental Protection and Green Jamaica- This element of the strategy receives passing attention and does not reciognize the potential for Jamaica to be a leading beacon of Environmental Management and moving towards a Green Economy. The potential for entering the Carbon Trading market and promoting Jamaica as an ecotourism destination also needs elaboration.
5. Venture Capital Fund- There is a need for a private venture capital fund to be established to provide funding for non traditional creative and new industries such as music, entertainment, art & craft, agro-industry and technology related industries however this needs to be encouraged via GOJ tax incentives.
With the above enhancements, I do believe that a specific set of action plans detailing what will be done by whom, when, the costs and benefits and the sources of investment/funding can be developed which can be used to monitor our progress to achieve truly sustainable growth of our economy.
Robert Stephens
Member- Jamaicans United for Sustainable Development
President- Pragma Consultants Ltd.
110 Old Hope Road
Kingston 6
Jamaica
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