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US Multibillion-dollar Dry-dock plan attracting attention
WIGNALL’S WORLD
MARK WIGNALL
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Twenty years ago Dr Lloyd Cole, a Jamaican medical doctor, conceptualised a plan that has the potential to change Jamaica's development curve from the incrementalist approach that has kept our economy and too many of our people mired in a long season of barely peeping over the edge of subsistence living. His comprehensive plan for the construction of a major state-of-the-art Dry Dock facility at Jackson Bay in Clarendon capable of meeting the service needs of cruise ships, cargo ships, pleasure boats — of all international marine categories and sizes -- which at all stages needed direct government approvals and allocation of lands (secured), had remained in a state of stillbirth for over 20 years.
In the same manner that Jamaica's geographic location gave birth to the development of the container terminal and transshipment port in the 1960s and beyond, Cole is firm in the belief that our location in relation to the Panama Canal sea lanes, the Eastern seaboard of Mexico, the United States and Canada makes Jamaica the ideal location for a major maritime facility.
On that basis, in 1990 he conceptualised the plan and in doing so, he formed The International Dry Dock Services and Allied Facilities Ltd; made contact with every conceivable person of importance and authority in Jamaica — political and otherwise — and in the international community; sought approvals; had surveys done; drafted project documents on the plan in which he itemised the numerous linkages and the ability to transform Clarendon and its environs into an industrial city and Jamaica as a major international maritime hub.
On Sunday, June 5, 2011 I wrote a front-page piece titled "US$3-b Project Ignored" and followed it up with yet another front-page article on Monday, June 6, "Ignored US$3-b project could spawn new industries." Since that time Dr Cole has heard from just about every project consultant of note, including those whose names are bigger than their achievements/involvement with large projects. One of the first serious enquiries came from Reginald Nugent, a business specialist from UTech with many years of involvement in business development at an international level.
For 20 long years Dr Cole took his proposals/plans to as far as he could, and although he received the blessings (in writing) from every important politician and technocrat of note in Jamaica, nothing was done by those who had the power to jump-start the project.
Among the others who had endorsed it are: C Laidley, chief technical director, Ministry of Housing (19/11/98); Phillip Paulwell, minister of commerce and technology (3/11/98); Peter Phillips, minister of transport and works (7/1/99); Portia Simpson Miller, minister of labour, social security and sports (18/2/99); Francis Tulloch, minister of tourism (3/05/99); Vin Lawrence, executive chairman, UDC (22/2/99); Captain Edward R Myers, port captain (9/12/96); Winston Anderson, director, Technical Cooperation Division, PIOJ (6/05/96); Hylton Clarke, chairman, Maritime and Transport (15/9/95); Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor, UWI (4/12/99); Rae Davis, president, UTech (20/5/99); Herbert J Thompson, president, NCU (9/7/99); Kern Spencer, president, Guild of Students, UWI, Mona (4/8/99), Dr Trevor Munroe, professor - UWI (2/7/99); plus many others.
That we were a nation of mostly talkers was fully demonstrated, in that not one politician at the time called him to say, 'Dr Cole, while the government does not have that kind of money to invest, I feel it is the government's responsibility as facilitator to get all the players together. We all have a stake in this.'
On May 18, 1999, Bruce Golding wrote the following to Dr Cole: "I enjoyed meeting with you last Friday and I am very impressed with the proposal you outlined for a major dry-dock facility along our south coast. This project makes eminent sense given our strategic location proximate to an important sea lane for international cargo vessels. I must commend you on the creativity and imagination that you have put into it. Please keep me informed as the project develops. You are assured of any assistance I can give."
At that time, Golding was somewhere in-between exiting the NDM and considering a future in his old JLP. Then, Bruce Golding was among many who had endorsed the project. On April 14, 2009 Cole sent a memo to Golding, then the prime minister, in which he stated the following. "Bauxite is not renewable and will be exhausted in the near, foreseeable future. Agriculture -- Jamaica has limited amount of flat, arable land for mechanised farming. There are restrictions by quotas and fixed prices on the global market. It is susceptible to natural disasters. Tourism --There is insufficient quality infrastructures, for example, entertainment and other varied attractions to attract visitor arrivals in large numbers beyond what is now in place. It is a sensitive industry."
He stated further, "The above facts seriously limit Jamaica's capability to expand beyond subsistence. Jamaica needs major industrial projects as outlined in the International Dry-Dock Services and Allied Facilities manual. The lifting of certain restrictions by President Obama, his enlightened attitude towards Cuba, and the recent visit to that island by members of the US Congress signal a new era of US relations with Cuba. It is only a matter of time before Cuba seizes the initiative on projects such as the proposed Dry-dock leaving Jamaica nursing regrets."
On that note was registered the urgency and the attention needed, although I am unaware whether he ever received a response from the prime minister.
One man can make a difference
Last Thursday an elated Dr Cole telephoned me. "I heard from Dr Christopher Tufton's assistant and," he said jokingly, "in the same manner that Eddie Seaga was the first head of state to meet with US President Ronald Reagan, I am to meet with the new minister of industry, investment and commerce to discuss the matter. Both myself and Reginald Nugent will be meeting with him." Minister Tufton is a no-nonsense man of action and not one of those types of politicians that are constantly preening themselves and their egos in the mirror. It is not that Tufton does not dress well, but I digress.
"I also heard from the man who I believe will be the next minister of industry, investment and commerce if the PNP wins the next elections, MrAnthony Hylton. He has not only signalled his interest, but he wants to meet to discuss the matter."
Hylton also does not fit the bill of the bumptious politician whose main role is to flit from election to election by spouting rubbish from the podium. It is my view that we need more of the Tufton and Hylton types in our politics, and not those parading with roughnecks and boasting of wins scored through the actions of these thugs.
Dr Cole has insisted that he doesn't care who takes ownership of the plan.
"I just know that this country can be better than it is. This project could take Jamaica into the stratosphere and to me, it doesn't matter now who doesit, but it has to be done."
The JLP administration is, like all governmental administrations worldwide, under serious pressure to deliver jobs, jobs, jobs. Even if we admit that many of our people are not yet at the level of education and sophistication to appreciate the nuances of the global problems, that is hardly any comfort to a teacher who has two children -- high school graduates — with numerous subject passes who cannot find work for the past two years.
Minister Tufton, be the best facilitator that you can be. The country deserves no less.
Youth is wasted on the young
He was barely 18 when he sat down to write his first book. It was titled My salary is ruining my sex life. At 18, he was still living with his parents and most of what he wanted were books, books and more books. But he also wanted direction, girls and a sex life. Not fully exposed to the wiles and guiles of women, he was sorely
lacking in knowledge about women and how they were automatically drawn to a man with a regular paycheque. So, in his last year in school, he had neither salary, sex life nor the faintest idea as to what to do to short-circuit the
process.
A year later he was working with a shipping company. Then, in 1969, all of his friends had work and jobs were plenty. At $22 per week as a statistical clerk, he had no idea what to do with the money, but of course he was in a much better position to fix the salary-sex connection. It was then that he found out that at 19 years of age one's salary will ruin one's sex life because one's sex life will always trigger the need for more and, therefore, there will be the need for more money. It was not as if he was buying the favours of women. He simply wanted to be able to fete them; this was where the problem began.
As he collected his first paycheque, one of the older workers took him into an office and said, "This is our insurance man. He will be selling you insurance and you WILL be buying." Had he left it up to the young man, no insurance man peddling benefits at 65 could get five minutes of his time. So he had to be ordered to do what was right.
When he was 23 he had set up a dolly house with a beautiful woman (later to be his wife) and they had a young son. One Saturday morning, one of the young man's friends, Eddie, showed up at the house. Eddie loved cornmeal porridge, but the young man hated it because so much of it, like religion, was forced on him as a child.
As the warm porridge was served, the young man's son, walking by holding on to chairs and low tables approached the coffee table where the porridge was.
"No, no, no," said the young man as his child approached. The baby stalled for a while then in a lunge, grabbed at the dish of porridge. As his hands sunk in the porridge he screamed and the woman of the house rushed to rescue her baby. No serious harm was done, but from that day it occurred to the young man that only by the young immersing themselves in the heat of life can they learn of life and how to tackle it. Three years later when the young man had ruined his relationship with the person who was then his wife, he penned a note to his two sons in which he pointed out the pitfalls of romance, the subtleties of woman and the gullibility of man. He never sent them the note, but he knew that even with the best parenting, it is only by immersing oneself in the heat of life that one can truly know oneself. Today, the man looks back and at 61 he has a much better appreciation for life and the people who make it interesting or disgusting.
One thing he is certain of, sometimes the young must be coerced into doing what is right. "But Mommy I love him!" a young woman may say to her mother.
Knowing the fellow is a scamp, the smart mother says, "Sure honey, sure, sure. It will go away", as she embraces her daughter and loves her more.
At just about the time when a man realises that good health is the most important factor in his life he will have already ruined it. Smoking, drinking, acting for too long like a ram goat. The young balk at health issues. "Hey, I am just 22. Let me drink and smoke. I have a life to live." In his forties, he may be dying of lung cancer, but by then he is forced to accept the inevitable — I did not take care of myself when I was young, now I am dying. Too late to call myself a damn fool.
The much more informed youngster of today does not have to rediscover the wheel. Sure, the times are much tougher economically that the times when I was that young man, but it is still possible for the young to immerse themselves in the heat of life without getting burned too badly.
Is the NDM onto something here?
A press release issued by the NDM demand urgent clarification from Energy Minister Clive Mullings.
Said the release under the caption, Is Petrojam ripping off Jamaicans?: "The National Democratic Movement is calling on the minister of energy, the Hon Clive Mullings to immediately investigate the operations of PetroJam in two specific areas: 1) The purchasing policy and 2) The pricing policy as the reduction this week in gas and diesel prices should be much more significant than Gas going down by $4.10 and Diesel down by $3.20 which was
announced.
"On the 13 July 2011, Gas was up $1.93 and Diesel up $1.84; on the 20 July 2011, Gas up $1.32 and Diesel up $1.14; on the 20 July 2011 it was Gas — no change and Diesel — up $0.56; on the 3 August 2011, it was Gas down $0.50 and Diesel down $0.53. All this while the international price of oil is falling to an all-time low of 19 per cent. The ex-refinery price before the reductions was $95.00 per litre. A 19 per cent reduction would represent $18.05 yet PetroJam has only reduced the price under 5 per cent($4.10/$3.20).
"It must be that the purchasing and pricing policies are not in the interest of the Jamaican consumer as it appears that PetroJam is ripping off the people. The NDM is asking Minister Mullings to have a public enquiry in PetroJam NOW!"
We do not need another enquiry. What we need is the minister's direct action of this matter. He is after all the minister and can direct PetroJam to give him full details of their pricing policies.
Step up to the plate minister like the Fortis that you are. Something doesn't add up.
observemark@gmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1VCS0pqNm
WIGNALL’S WORLD
MARK WIGNALL
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Twenty years ago Dr Lloyd Cole, a Jamaican medical doctor, conceptualised a plan that has the potential to change Jamaica's development curve from the incrementalist approach that has kept our economy and too many of our people mired in a long season of barely peeping over the edge of subsistence living. His comprehensive plan for the construction of a major state-of-the-art Dry Dock facility at Jackson Bay in Clarendon capable of meeting the service needs of cruise ships, cargo ships, pleasure boats — of all international marine categories and sizes -- which at all stages needed direct government approvals and allocation of lands (secured), had remained in a state of stillbirth for over 20 years.
In the same manner that Jamaica's geographic location gave birth to the development of the container terminal and transshipment port in the 1960s and beyond, Cole is firm in the belief that our location in relation to the Panama Canal sea lanes, the Eastern seaboard of Mexico, the United States and Canada makes Jamaica the ideal location for a major maritime facility.
On that basis, in 1990 he conceptualised the plan and in doing so, he formed The International Dry Dock Services and Allied Facilities Ltd; made contact with every conceivable person of importance and authority in Jamaica — political and otherwise — and in the international community; sought approvals; had surveys done; drafted project documents on the plan in which he itemised the numerous linkages and the ability to transform Clarendon and its environs into an industrial city and Jamaica as a major international maritime hub.
On Sunday, June 5, 2011 I wrote a front-page piece titled "US$3-b Project Ignored" and followed it up with yet another front-page article on Monday, June 6, "Ignored US$3-b project could spawn new industries." Since that time Dr Cole has heard from just about every project consultant of note, including those whose names are bigger than their achievements/involvement with large projects. One of the first serious enquiries came from Reginald Nugent, a business specialist from UTech with many years of involvement in business development at an international level.
For 20 long years Dr Cole took his proposals/plans to as far as he could, and although he received the blessings (in writing) from every important politician and technocrat of note in Jamaica, nothing was done by those who had the power to jump-start the project.
Among the others who had endorsed it are: C Laidley, chief technical director, Ministry of Housing (19/11/98); Phillip Paulwell, minister of commerce and technology (3/11/98); Peter Phillips, minister of transport and works (7/1/99); Portia Simpson Miller, minister of labour, social security and sports (18/2/99); Francis Tulloch, minister of tourism (3/05/99); Vin Lawrence, executive chairman, UDC (22/2/99); Captain Edward R Myers, port captain (9/12/96); Winston Anderson, director, Technical Cooperation Division, PIOJ (6/05/96); Hylton Clarke, chairman, Maritime and Transport (15/9/95); Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor, UWI (4/12/99); Rae Davis, president, UTech (20/5/99); Herbert J Thompson, president, NCU (9/7/99); Kern Spencer, president, Guild of Students, UWI, Mona (4/8/99), Dr Trevor Munroe, professor - UWI (2/7/99); plus many others.
That we were a nation of mostly talkers was fully demonstrated, in that not one politician at the time called him to say, 'Dr Cole, while the government does not have that kind of money to invest, I feel it is the government's responsibility as facilitator to get all the players together. We all have a stake in this.'
On May 18, 1999, Bruce Golding wrote the following to Dr Cole: "I enjoyed meeting with you last Friday and I am very impressed with the proposal you outlined for a major dry-dock facility along our south coast. This project makes eminent sense given our strategic location proximate to an important sea lane for international cargo vessels. I must commend you on the creativity and imagination that you have put into it. Please keep me informed as the project develops. You are assured of any assistance I can give."
At that time, Golding was somewhere in-between exiting the NDM and considering a future in his old JLP. Then, Bruce Golding was among many who had endorsed the project. On April 14, 2009 Cole sent a memo to Golding, then the prime minister, in which he stated the following. "Bauxite is not renewable and will be exhausted in the near, foreseeable future. Agriculture -- Jamaica has limited amount of flat, arable land for mechanised farming. There are restrictions by quotas and fixed prices on the global market. It is susceptible to natural disasters. Tourism --There is insufficient quality infrastructures, for example, entertainment and other varied attractions to attract visitor arrivals in large numbers beyond what is now in place. It is a sensitive industry."
He stated further, "The above facts seriously limit Jamaica's capability to expand beyond subsistence. Jamaica needs major industrial projects as outlined in the International Dry-Dock Services and Allied Facilities manual. The lifting of certain restrictions by President Obama, his enlightened attitude towards Cuba, and the recent visit to that island by members of the US Congress signal a new era of US relations with Cuba. It is only a matter of time before Cuba seizes the initiative on projects such as the proposed Dry-dock leaving Jamaica nursing regrets."
On that note was registered the urgency and the attention needed, although I am unaware whether he ever received a response from the prime minister.
One man can make a difference
Last Thursday an elated Dr Cole telephoned me. "I heard from Dr Christopher Tufton's assistant and," he said jokingly, "in the same manner that Eddie Seaga was the first head of state to meet with US President Ronald Reagan, I am to meet with the new minister of industry, investment and commerce to discuss the matter. Both myself and Reginald Nugent will be meeting with him." Minister Tufton is a no-nonsense man of action and not one of those types of politicians that are constantly preening themselves and their egos in the mirror. It is not that Tufton does not dress well, but I digress.
"I also heard from the man who I believe will be the next minister of industry, investment and commerce if the PNP wins the next elections, MrAnthony Hylton. He has not only signalled his interest, but he wants to meet to discuss the matter."
Hylton also does not fit the bill of the bumptious politician whose main role is to flit from election to election by spouting rubbish from the podium. It is my view that we need more of the Tufton and Hylton types in our politics, and not those parading with roughnecks and boasting of wins scored through the actions of these thugs.
Dr Cole has insisted that he doesn't care who takes ownership of the plan.
"I just know that this country can be better than it is. This project could take Jamaica into the stratosphere and to me, it doesn't matter now who doesit, but it has to be done."
The JLP administration is, like all governmental administrations worldwide, under serious pressure to deliver jobs, jobs, jobs. Even if we admit that many of our people are not yet at the level of education and sophistication to appreciate the nuances of the global problems, that is hardly any comfort to a teacher who has two children -- high school graduates — with numerous subject passes who cannot find work for the past two years.
Minister Tufton, be the best facilitator that you can be. The country deserves no less.
Youth is wasted on the young
He was barely 18 when he sat down to write his first book. It was titled My salary is ruining my sex life. At 18, he was still living with his parents and most of what he wanted were books, books and more books. But he also wanted direction, girls and a sex life. Not fully exposed to the wiles and guiles of women, he was sorely
lacking in knowledge about women and how they were automatically drawn to a man with a regular paycheque. So, in his last year in school, he had neither salary, sex life nor the faintest idea as to what to do to short-circuit the
process.
A year later he was working with a shipping company. Then, in 1969, all of his friends had work and jobs were plenty. At $22 per week as a statistical clerk, he had no idea what to do with the money, but of course he was in a much better position to fix the salary-sex connection. It was then that he found out that at 19 years of age one's salary will ruin one's sex life because one's sex life will always trigger the need for more and, therefore, there will be the need for more money. It was not as if he was buying the favours of women. He simply wanted to be able to fete them; this was where the problem began.
As he collected his first paycheque, one of the older workers took him into an office and said, "This is our insurance man. He will be selling you insurance and you WILL be buying." Had he left it up to the young man, no insurance man peddling benefits at 65 could get five minutes of his time. So he had to be ordered to do what was right.
When he was 23 he had set up a dolly house with a beautiful woman (later to be his wife) and they had a young son. One Saturday morning, one of the young man's friends, Eddie, showed up at the house. Eddie loved cornmeal porridge, but the young man hated it because so much of it, like religion, was forced on him as a child.
As the warm porridge was served, the young man's son, walking by holding on to chairs and low tables approached the coffee table where the porridge was.
"No, no, no," said the young man as his child approached. The baby stalled for a while then in a lunge, grabbed at the dish of porridge. As his hands sunk in the porridge he screamed and the woman of the house rushed to rescue her baby. No serious harm was done, but from that day it occurred to the young man that only by the young immersing themselves in the heat of life can they learn of life and how to tackle it. Three years later when the young man had ruined his relationship with the person who was then his wife, he penned a note to his two sons in which he pointed out the pitfalls of romance, the subtleties of woman and the gullibility of man. He never sent them the note, but he knew that even with the best parenting, it is only by immersing oneself in the heat of life that one can truly know oneself. Today, the man looks back and at 61 he has a much better appreciation for life and the people who make it interesting or disgusting.
One thing he is certain of, sometimes the young must be coerced into doing what is right. "But Mommy I love him!" a young woman may say to her mother.
Knowing the fellow is a scamp, the smart mother says, "Sure honey, sure, sure. It will go away", as she embraces her daughter and loves her more.
At just about the time when a man realises that good health is the most important factor in his life he will have already ruined it. Smoking, drinking, acting for too long like a ram goat. The young balk at health issues. "Hey, I am just 22. Let me drink and smoke. I have a life to live." In his forties, he may be dying of lung cancer, but by then he is forced to accept the inevitable — I did not take care of myself when I was young, now I am dying. Too late to call myself a damn fool.
The much more informed youngster of today does not have to rediscover the wheel. Sure, the times are much tougher economically that the times when I was that young man, but it is still possible for the young to immerse themselves in the heat of life without getting burned too badly.
Is the NDM onto something here?
A press release issued by the NDM demand urgent clarification from Energy Minister Clive Mullings.
Said the release under the caption, Is Petrojam ripping off Jamaicans?: "The National Democratic Movement is calling on the minister of energy, the Hon Clive Mullings to immediately investigate the operations of PetroJam in two specific areas: 1) The purchasing policy and 2) The pricing policy as the reduction this week in gas and diesel prices should be much more significant than Gas going down by $4.10 and Diesel down by $3.20 which was
announced.
"On the 13 July 2011, Gas was up $1.93 and Diesel up $1.84; on the 20 July 2011, Gas up $1.32 and Diesel up $1.14; on the 20 July 2011 it was Gas — no change and Diesel — up $0.56; on the 3 August 2011, it was Gas down $0.50 and Diesel down $0.53. All this while the international price of oil is falling to an all-time low of 19 per cent. The ex-refinery price before the reductions was $95.00 per litre. A 19 per cent reduction would represent $18.05 yet PetroJam has only reduced the price under 5 per cent($4.10/$3.20).
"It must be that the purchasing and pricing policies are not in the interest of the Jamaican consumer as it appears that PetroJam is ripping off the people. The NDM is asking Minister Mullings to have a public enquiry in PetroJam NOW!"
We do not need another enquiry. What we need is the minister's direct action of this matter. He is after all the minister and can direct PetroJam to give him full details of their pricing policies.
Step up to the plate minister like the Fortis that you are. Something doesn't add up.
observemark@gmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1VCS0pqNm