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Development at what cost?
HENLEY MORGAN
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Like a careless person with legs spread apart, Jamaica is wide open for business. The resulting rape of the country's resources, culture and values in full view of an applauding audience of our citizens who are hungry for power, money and jobs is pathetic.
Foreign takeover of the economy under the guise of increasing foreign direct investment is a sign of economic success in an age of globalisation - so we have been brainwashed to believe. It is time to remove the scales from our eyes in order to see what is really happening.
Recent front-page stories in our local newspapers reported on a major Spanish hotel development in Montego Bay, which has allegedly breached the building code by going up four instead of three floors. If that was all, it need not cause one to have sleepless nights. Word on the streets in Montego Bay is that a full Spanish invasion is in progress.
Some have cited as evidence of this troubling situation the Spanish-managed Sangster International Airport where advertisement contracts, food concessionaires and a whole slew of tourism-related businesses are allegedly going to Spanish interests apparently without tender. At least one case of what appears to be unfair competition is heading for the courts.
Any Jamaican who has even casually followed reports in the press would suspect that there is more to the construction boom taking place along the north coast of the island than meets the eye. There are constant complaints about damage to the environment. But it's when one views the so-called progress from the air that the extent of the damage can be realistically assessed. Jamaica is fast losing its competitive advantage as a country with great beaches. With hotels built almost on the shoreline and the threat of rising tides from global warming, not only are we losing our beaches, but a catastrophe is looming.
The Spanish are here, but the Chinese just keep coming. Has anyone stopped to notice that immigrant Chinese have virtually taken over the retail grocery and haberdashery trade? In downtown Kingston and spreading to other urban centres across the island, the destruction of small local retailers is at an advanced stage. The prevailing mantra is, "If you can't beat them, join them" and so many Jamaican shop keepers are managing to stay alive by forming alliances with the "invading force". Not until one of the major local distributors collapses will our policymakers, city managers and government revenue collectors step in to tame and control this specious beast of development.
From the Rollins land deal at Rose Hall to the sale of Air Jamaica slots at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom, there is a lingering suspicion among Jamaicans that those who negotiate on behalf of the rest of us, either out of desperation to see investments come to the island or the low value they place on national assets, have sold us out. That is one reason why I am not jumping up and down celebrating the recent announcement of government's decision to introduce casino gambling and reap the "rich" rewards of multi-billion US dollar investments.
What are we giving up or putting at risk to get this golden egg laid by a goose? Will it take us further down a road (gambling) which like prostitution, pornography and human trafficking has an economic value but is known to be detrimental on a larger scale and over the longer term? Will it further erode pricing of rooms and attractions in the segment of Jamaica's tourism where locals who kept the industry alive when others turned their backs on it are heavily invested? Will it be a further retreat down the path of enclave/garrison tourism (tourism behind high walls with a sentinel posted at the gate), which benefits only a few and delays government solving the problem of crime and violence which affects every Jamaican? Will it be another case where we sell off prime national assets (land) at a discounted rate to gain low-paying jobs and the payroll taxes that these generate while the fleshy part of the fruit is repatriated overseas? Will the minister of tourism give to me, a citizen of this broke but still proud country, an iron- clad guarantee that we will not be told later on that the deal was a bad one entered into by the previous administration?
Our painful recent history has been one of government ignoring the opinions, sentiments and warnings of significant segments of the Jamaican populace, undermining local investors, creating an un-level playing field, and discounting the value of our national assets to gain foreign investment. Years later, there is nothing to show for it: no significant increase in Gross Domestic Product, no improved education, no better social services, no reduced crime and violence.
I, like every well-thinking Jamaican, welcome foreign investment and the resulting development. But based on current trends in how we go about attracting such investments, one must ask: development at what cost?
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
HENLEY MORGAN
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Like a careless person with legs spread apart, Jamaica is wide open for business. The resulting rape of the country's resources, culture and values in full view of an applauding audience of our citizens who are hungry for power, money and jobs is pathetic.
Foreign takeover of the economy under the guise of increasing foreign direct investment is a sign of economic success in an age of globalisation - so we have been brainwashed to believe. It is time to remove the scales from our eyes in order to see what is really happening.
Recent front-page stories in our local newspapers reported on a major Spanish hotel development in Montego Bay, which has allegedly breached the building code by going up four instead of three floors. If that was all, it need not cause one to have sleepless nights. Word on the streets in Montego Bay is that a full Spanish invasion is in progress.
Some have cited as evidence of this troubling situation the Spanish-managed Sangster International Airport where advertisement contracts, food concessionaires and a whole slew of tourism-related businesses are allegedly going to Spanish interests apparently without tender. At least one case of what appears to be unfair competition is heading for the courts.
Any Jamaican who has even casually followed reports in the press would suspect that there is more to the construction boom taking place along the north coast of the island than meets the eye. There are constant complaints about damage to the environment. But it's when one views the so-called progress from the air that the extent of the damage can be realistically assessed. Jamaica is fast losing its competitive advantage as a country with great beaches. With hotels built almost on the shoreline and the threat of rising tides from global warming, not only are we losing our beaches, but a catastrophe is looming.
The Spanish are here, but the Chinese just keep coming. Has anyone stopped to notice that immigrant Chinese have virtually taken over the retail grocery and haberdashery trade? In downtown Kingston and spreading to other urban centres across the island, the destruction of small local retailers is at an advanced stage. The prevailing mantra is, "If you can't beat them, join them" and so many Jamaican shop keepers are managing to stay alive by forming alliances with the "invading force". Not until one of the major local distributors collapses will our policymakers, city managers and government revenue collectors step in to tame and control this specious beast of development.
From the Rollins land deal at Rose Hall to the sale of Air Jamaica slots at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom, there is a lingering suspicion among Jamaicans that those who negotiate on behalf of the rest of us, either out of desperation to see investments come to the island or the low value they place on national assets, have sold us out. That is one reason why I am not jumping up and down celebrating the recent announcement of government's decision to introduce casino gambling and reap the "rich" rewards of multi-billion US dollar investments.
What are we giving up or putting at risk to get this golden egg laid by a goose? Will it take us further down a road (gambling) which like prostitution, pornography and human trafficking has an economic value but is known to be detrimental on a larger scale and over the longer term? Will it further erode pricing of rooms and attractions in the segment of Jamaica's tourism where locals who kept the industry alive when others turned their backs on it are heavily invested? Will it be a further retreat down the path of enclave/garrison tourism (tourism behind high walls with a sentinel posted at the gate), which benefits only a few and delays government solving the problem of crime and violence which affects every Jamaican? Will it be another case where we sell off prime national assets (land) at a discounted rate to gain low-paying jobs and the payroll taxes that these generate while the fleshy part of the fruit is repatriated overseas? Will the minister of tourism give to me, a citizen of this broke but still proud country, an iron- clad guarantee that we will not be told later on that the deal was a bad one entered into by the previous administration?
Our painful recent history has been one of government ignoring the opinions, sentiments and warnings of significant segments of the Jamaican populace, undermining local investors, creating an un-level playing field, and discounting the value of our national assets to gain foreign investment. Years later, there is nothing to show for it: no significant increase in Gross Domestic Product, no improved education, no better social services, no reduced crime and violence.
I, like every well-thinking Jamaican, welcome foreign investment and the resulting development. But based on current trends in how we go about attracting such investments, one must ask: development at what cost?
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
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