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Logistics hub, "a potential game-changer" - CDB Head
6:07 am, Wed February 12, 2014
By Earl Moxam
“A potential game-changer for Jamaica.” That’s how Dr. Warren Smith, President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), sees the proposed Jamaican Logistics Hub.
“My hope is and my expectation is that it will be implemented,” Dr. Smith said of the multi-faceted infrastructure initiative, aimed at placing Jamaica at the forefront among global logistics hubs for the movement of goods and provision of affiliated services along major shipping and air cargo transport routes.
Dr. Smith, a Jamaican national, speaking with RJR News, following a press conference at the headquarters of the CDB in Barbados on Tuesday, acknowledged that the low growth economic situation in Jamaica “is a very challenging and difficult one”… which resulted from “an accumulation of policy errors, policy inconsistency over a long period of time.”
Optimistic note
But, striking a distinctly more optimistic note regarding the future, he expressed pleasure at the early signs coming out of the current “economic recovery programme” being pursued in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In that regard, he highlighted the integral role being played by the Jamaican private sector in monitoring the implementation of the IMF led programme. An Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), chaired by Richard Byles (Chairman and CEO, Sagicor Life) monitors the progress of the programme and provides regular updates on its findings.
The CDB chief wants Jamaica’s business leaders to be more than cheer leaders for the economic recovery programme, however, urging them to take advantage of “the opportunities that are being created by the reforms that are now being put in place by the government.”
Ideal opportunity
The logistics hub, he contends, is an ideal opportunity for such domestic private sector investment in Jamaica. “It is my hope that a lot of that private investment will come from the domestic economy. It would be very unfortunate if our local private sector allowed many of the opportunities to go to foreign investors.”
Quickly clarifying that he welcomed foreign investment, as “key to the growth of our country,” he emphasized that it was important for the Jamaican private sector to “recognise the opportunity and make sure that they get on board early, so that they are part and parcel of this transformative development.”
So far, the clearest indication of investor interest in aspects of the logistics hub has come from the Chinese firm, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC), which is negotiating to develop the now controversial Goat Islands transshipment port.
Among the other immediate investment opportunities are the dredging of Kingston Harbour and privatisation of Kingston Container Terminal, currently owned by the Port Authority of Jamaica, a government entity.
A new dry dock for boat repairs at Jackson Bay in Clarendon, a bulk cargo port at Cow Bay in St. Thomas and an airport for air cargo transfers, at the former US air base in Clarendon, are among the other big infrastructure projects on offer in the logistics hub plan.
Human resources
The CDB is particularly interested in helping to ensure that the human resource needs of the logistics hub are met locally.
“If you don’t have the human resources in place, what is going to end up happening is that a good bit of the benefit is going to flow overseas, or the beneficiaries will be from people who come into our country in order to take advantage of the jobs that become available, if our people aren’t skilled-up to be able to take advantage,” Dr. Smith cautioned.
A professed admirer of the work being done by the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI), he expressed a willingness to hold discussions with the institution, recognizing “the critical role that they can play in this area… we would certainly be happy to have discussions with and look at ways in which we could be of assistance to an entity of that caliber.”
Growth projection
The CDB, at Tuesday’s press conference, projected average growth of 2.5% across its 19 borrowing member states in 2014, but Jamaica is not expected to be among the growth leaders in the immediate future. The “star performers,” according to Dr. Smith, will be those states with an abundance of natural resources, such as Suriname and Guyana.
Jamaica’s economic turnaround may not be too far off, however, the CDB head believes, if it continues to make the necessary adjustments, to “put Jamaica on a different path, a historically different path.”
Logistics hub, "a potential game-changer" - CDB Head
6:07 am, Wed February 12, 2014
By Earl Moxam
“A potential game-changer for Jamaica.” That’s how Dr. Warren Smith, President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), sees the proposed Jamaican Logistics Hub.
“My hope is and my expectation is that it will be implemented,” Dr. Smith said of the multi-faceted infrastructure initiative, aimed at placing Jamaica at the forefront among global logistics hubs for the movement of goods and provision of affiliated services along major shipping and air cargo transport routes.
Dr. Smith, a Jamaican national, speaking with RJR News, following a press conference at the headquarters of the CDB in Barbados on Tuesday, acknowledged that the low growth economic situation in Jamaica “is a very challenging and difficult one”… which resulted from “an accumulation of policy errors, policy inconsistency over a long period of time.”
Optimistic note
But, striking a distinctly more optimistic note regarding the future, he expressed pleasure at the early signs coming out of the current “economic recovery programme” being pursued in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In that regard, he highlighted the integral role being played by the Jamaican private sector in monitoring the implementation of the IMF led programme. An Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), chaired by Richard Byles (Chairman and CEO, Sagicor Life) monitors the progress of the programme and provides regular updates on its findings.
The CDB chief wants Jamaica’s business leaders to be more than cheer leaders for the economic recovery programme, however, urging them to take advantage of “the opportunities that are being created by the reforms that are now being put in place by the government.”
Ideal opportunity
The logistics hub, he contends, is an ideal opportunity for such domestic private sector investment in Jamaica. “It is my hope that a lot of that private investment will come from the domestic economy. It would be very unfortunate if our local private sector allowed many of the opportunities to go to foreign investors.”
Quickly clarifying that he welcomed foreign investment, as “key to the growth of our country,” he emphasized that it was important for the Jamaican private sector to “recognise the opportunity and make sure that they get on board early, so that they are part and parcel of this transformative development.”
So far, the clearest indication of investor interest in aspects of the logistics hub has come from the Chinese firm, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC), which is negotiating to develop the now controversial Goat Islands transshipment port.
Among the other immediate investment opportunities are the dredging of Kingston Harbour and privatisation of Kingston Container Terminal, currently owned by the Port Authority of Jamaica, a government entity.
A new dry dock for boat repairs at Jackson Bay in Clarendon, a bulk cargo port at Cow Bay in St. Thomas and an airport for air cargo transfers, at the former US air base in Clarendon, are among the other big infrastructure projects on offer in the logistics hub plan.
Human resources
The CDB is particularly interested in helping to ensure that the human resource needs of the logistics hub are met locally.
“If you don’t have the human resources in place, what is going to end up happening is that a good bit of the benefit is going to flow overseas, or the beneficiaries will be from people who come into our country in order to take advantage of the jobs that become available, if our people aren’t skilled-up to be able to take advantage,” Dr. Smith cautioned.
A professed admirer of the work being done by the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI), he expressed a willingness to hold discussions with the institution, recognizing “the critical role that they can play in this area… we would certainly be happy to have discussions with and look at ways in which we could be of assistance to an entity of that caliber.”
Growth projection
The CDB, at Tuesday’s press conference, projected average growth of 2.5% across its 19 borrowing member states in 2014, but Jamaica is not expected to be among the growth leaders in the immediate future. The “star performers,” according to Dr. Smith, will be those states with an abundance of natural resources, such as Suriname and Guyana.
Jamaica’s economic turnaround may not be too far off, however, the CDB head believes, if it continues to make the necessary adjustments, to “put Jamaica on a different path, a historically different path.”
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