Robert BuddanRobert Buddan
GORDON 'BUTCH' Stewart has complimented Mr. Patterson and the Government for big thinking symbolised by Highway 2000. It was big thinking too that gave us the National Stadium, National Arena and Boys and Girls Champs as the stages to parade national excellence in sports and which have made us feel big about our world class achievements, no less at this Olympic Games.
Big thinking means being
proactive in seeing development in a national and holistic perspective, entering boldly into mega projects that will lift large parts of the country from one level to a
higher level of development in a relatively short period of time, and having the confidence that the country's talents and resources can be sufficiently mobilised to make use of opportunities not recognised before or which have only recently presented themselves. Thinking big means having vision, timing, and courage.
Small thinking occurs when a sector only thinks about and plans around its own interests, settles for incremental improvements instead of grand changes, has little confidence in people's ability to make a historic difference, lives in the short term, and only reacts when changes elsewhere force it to.
GOVERNMENTS AND
THINKING BIG
The government seems to be in the mode of thinking big. The Minister of Information, Burchell Whiteman, has challenged Jamaicans to work towards achieving First World status by 2017. This is a bold challenge. The Caribbean Group for Co-operation in Economic Development has prepared a 2020 Vision Document of where the Caribbean should aim to be by 2020. It is a bold vision.
It speaks of first generation reforms (trade liberalisation, privatisation, macroeconomic
adjustments, and financial
regulation), all of which are well-advanced in Jamaica. Second
generation reforms (strengthening democracy, improving the
efficiency of the state, targeting poverty directly, developing social capital) are ongoing. The next step, according to the document, is the capacity to manage change and fill the gap between talk and action.
For all the talk about the private sector, the document says, "Caribbean society expects the government to take the initiative in and guide changes to promote overall development." This calls for big thinking and big action that replaces big talk. The state itself, the document says, should encourage those public sector leaders who have an aptitude for innovation and risk-taking, and there are quite a few in our public sector. But it should work with civil
society to ensure accountability.
The recipe for big thinking, to take one example, has never been applied to Kingston. The city's re-development has gone through a number of stages since 1967, each making important contributions, but together have not culminated in the needed transformation. Hopefully, the newly announced plans for the city fall in line with the current mindset of big thinking. The World Cup of cricket, another example of big thinking,
is now an important catalyst
and momentum for the city's
redevelopment.
COLONIALISM, BAD GOVERNANCE
Colonial authorities did not think big about Jamaica's development. Their big thinking was confined to imperial interests. The once great towns of Port Royal, Kingston, Spanish Town, Falmouth and Savanna-la-Mar, were allowed to decay once sugar had gone into decline and the merchants of those towns had made their money and left. During sugar's long decline, the British showed no interest in bananas, Jamaica's main agricultural export at the start of the 1900s, and it was the American United Fruit Company that took advantage of that crop. The British did nothing to develop tourism even though it began to show potential in the first decades of the 1900s.
The British had little interest in banking which the Canadians first developed after Emancipation. They failed to see the potential of bauxite in the 1940s, allowing Canadian and American companies to control. They did not aid in the development of a Jamaican cement company, frustrating these efforts, even with the potential for development provided by the post-war construction boom. Colonial government was the antithesis of good governance.
The first set of legislation for industrial and agricultural development came about when locals were elected to Jamaica's legislature. Jamaican politicians found a city dominated by King Street merchants, an electricity company, a few bakeries, biscuit and aerated water factories, a match factory and a couple of foundries. The People's National Party (PNP)
and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) passed legislation that
started tourism, bauxite, and
manufacturing, including the cement company and oil refinery. It was their governments that established the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) to see to the development or
redevelopment of Portmore, Port Royal, Kingston, Spanish Town, Falmouth and other cities and towns.
REDEVELOPING CITIES
For Jamaica to achieve First World status, we need First World cities and towns. These are the main centres of politics and government, population, commerce, culture, and finance. It is through cities that countries are linked together. Cities and main towns are the hub for globalisation and they must be modern if they are to provide the environment for globally competitive business. But cities and main towns also happen to be the main centres of crime, violence, unemployment, under-employment, and environmental decay. This is why we must be hopeful about the recent announcement by the Prime Minister regarding plans for Kingston's redevelopment.
In 2002, Prime Minister Patterson called on the Kingston Redevelopment Committee (chaired by Vin Lawrence) to assess the country's Vision 2020 document to see if it provided a viable framework for Kingston's Redevelopment. The Committee's report formed the basis for the Prime Minister's recent announcement. The UDC's big thinking today must be no less than to make Jamaica's cities and towns the best cultural and commercial centres in the Caribbean.
The Government's plan now envisions the redesign of Parade to make it a hub of cultural excellence by 2006; the redesign of St. William Grant Park and the King Street Corridor in accordance with the cultural district, by 2005; the creation of a central transportation hub by 2005; new and upgraded agricultural markets by 2007; and extending the Michael Manley Boulevard along the Kingston Waterfront into Marcus Garvey Drive. The redevelopment of Sabina Park to the east of the downtown area and the construction of 3,000 homes in Denham Town, Trench Town and Spanish Town Road must help to make Kingston fitting of the 21st century.
However, this development should be pursued according to the vision of the Kingston Redevelopment Committee, a vision to create a cultural triangle encompassing Kingston, Port Royal, Gunboat Beach, Spanish Town and Hellshire. Vin Lawrence himself noted Kingston's strategic location across from Port Royal, forming a historic triangle with Spanish Town. Seen in this way, the potential of downtown is limitless.
Mr. Patterson's recent announcement adds something vital finance.
Hopefully, a few more things will follow. Some 86 derelict buildings stretching from Western Kingston to Harbour Street have been identified for demolition. Kingston needs new space upon which to rebuild and those buildings have harboured guns, drugs and criminals. They must go.
We also need to get moving on the other parts of this historic triangle Port Royal and Spanish Town. We need an announcement that big funds have been secured for the Port Royal Heritage Tourism Project and the plan for the Spanish Town Historic District and the Greater Spanish Town Redevelopment Area. Comprehensive plans exist and consultations are going on. For some reason investments cannot be raised for Port Royal and Spanish Town needs big action now more than ever.
History shows that the fates of Port Royal, Kingston and Spanish Town have been locked together. For each to develop, the others must be developed too. We accept the need for consultation and planning but there comes a time when development must begin and Spanish Town is one town that needs urgent and major surgery.
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, Mona, UWI. E-mail: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or infocus@gleanerjm.com
