Edward Seaga, ContributorTHE VISIT of Vice President of the People's Republic of China, Zeng Quinghong, could be most auspicious for Jamaica, if handled correctly.
The signal is there for big things to happen otherwise the Chinese Mission to the trade exhibition at the National Arena would not have been supported at the level of a vice-president of one of the most powerful trading nations in the world.
I can speak with some inside knowledge on the prospects of such a trade mission because of previous contact with the government of China on the promotion and marketing of Chinese goods from a Jamaican base.
The year was 1996. Carla and I were just married and we chose the Far East, inclusive of the People's Republic of China for our honeymoon, with great anticipation.
Actually, the first stop on the honeymoon, was for me to address a conference in Tokyo, then on to Shanghai, where we began a fantasy visit as guests of the Chinese government for a week.
No amount of prior description could have prepared us for what we encountered. The skyline of Shanghai was an awesome picture. Large construction cranes capable of reaching up to many storeys in height were operating everywhere. It was as if the entire city, one of the world's largest, was a huge construction site. We visited one of the very many industrial parks. It was truly a park, beautifully landscaped.
A BOOMING METROPOLIS
Shenzen, the gateway to Hong Kong, our last stop, was no different, except that it was a small town of 16,000 population in 1980. Fifteen years later, it was a booming metropolis. The more we travelled and saw the industrial zoom, not boom, the more I felt that I had wasted my life. Everything else seemed so insignificant.
All this is by way of background. I had a mission to accomplish, notwithstanding the honeymoon being the main purpose of the trip. We were well received by officials of the Chinese government to whom I explained my concept of the developments of a free zone in the Kingston Harbour which I had spoken to in my budget presentation of 1995, the year before our visit. Among other things, this would replicate the hugely
successful Panama Free Zone in the wholesaling of goods to buyers who came from all over the region. I indicated that since China had made such an enormous success of being manufacturers to the world, producing a wide variety of other countries, I assumed that the time was approaching. when China would want to
market its own brands of goods to the market. I recognised that this would have to be on a somewhat limited scale, of course, so as to avoid going into competition with the brands which Chinese firms were already producing for other parties. But what is 'limited scale' for China is still relatively massive in terms of our regional trade.
FOLLOW UP THE DISCUSSION
Without giving away any future strategy, the officials clearly shared my viewpoint and we parted with a commitment to follow up the
discussion after the 1997 general election. Unfortunately, the JLP lost the general election in 1997 and the matter rested there.
Now that government of China is exploring the marketing possibilities for Chinese goods in Jamaica and the region through a very
elaborate exhibition at the National Arena, it is timely and appropriate to remind the public about the Fort Augusta Free Zone, which offers the best prospects for a really
successful venture into local and regional marketing.
The Fort Augusta Free Zone was to be developed on 250 acres of mostly reclaimed land in the Kingston Harbour incorporating the already existing 57 acres, Fort Augusta Penninsula. The approach was to reproduce on one site the three different types of free zones which exist in the region:
* Panama (wholesale
marketing)
* Dominican Republic
(manufacturing)
* Bahamas (tourism, duty
free shopping).
To these would be added:
* An information technology park, resort development with a white sand beach transported from the off-shore cays,
including a large hotel to accommodate the huge number of visitors flying in to shop.
A feasibility study was presented to show that the project would have been very profitable financially to government, strictly on a land development and sale basis. The employment potential, mostly in manufacturing, clerical and service industries could be 20,000 persons more than enough to take care of unemployment in Kingston and lower St. Catherine.
The rationale for the project
was that in addition to being the salvation for unemployment, it would also have a very substantial impact on the crime problem in Kingston and St. Catherine. It is axiomatic that crime increases when job creation is low, and decreases when job creation is high. Graphs exist from the decade of the 1960s illustrating this.
CRIME AND JOBLESSNESS
Here was a project which was very viable financially and could tackle crime and joblessness successfully. Yet it has received little official attention from Government. It appears now, however, that with the Chinese connection in place, a covert interest has been ignited which could now become a burning flame.
I hope this is so. Those of us who have had to struggle with unemployment and crime in the inner cities of Kingston want to see a major leap forward in tackling these inextricably-linked problems. There is no better way to make a strong impact in alleviating these social problems than the Fort Augusta Free Port proposal to reclaim a large acreage of most valuable land in the shallow waters of Kingston Harbour.
There are additional features to the project which go beyond a Chinese connection. The Fort Augusta Free Port would offer two or three cruise ship berths able to land many thousands of passengers on a sustainable basis to be ferried to Port Royal assuming development to its full potential as the most valuable marine archaeological site in the western hemisphere. The prospects of casino gaming, if acceptable to the
public, in the re-established pirate city, would encourage cruise ships to overnight in Kingston, at the Free Port. I am not without a background of exploring this concept to major tourism interests prior to the 2002 General Election.
Efforts to revive downtown Kingston, while laudable, are operating without the necessary level of market attractiveness in the system which has to be
generated to provide meaningful success. The tandem effort of downtown Kingston and the Fort Augusta Free Port would have very exciting possibilities of being a mega success.
I believe that Jamaica's central position in the Caribbean, which has been commendably exploited by the Port Authority of Jamaica, developers of the largest container port in the Caribbean, has even more potential than is currently realised. The merger of the operations of the container port with Free Port manufacturing, wholesale merchandising, duty free shopping, and resort facilities, further coupled with a developed Port Royal could be the biggest commercial operation in Jamaica and a sure winner. Chinese involvement is the right connection to make this more than a dream.
EMBRACING THIS CONCEPT
Talk about embracing this
concept but establishing it on the western side of Hunts Bay would defeat two of the major linkages which make Fort Augusta ideal: the short distances 15 minutes by land from the container port (where goods would be handled) to the Free Port, and 15 minutes by sea from the Free Port to Port Royal for cruise ship passengers. Hunts Bay would offer a long traffic-laden route which could kill the prospects.
How much more ideal can you get! If the intention is really a serious one to get a free zone operating in Kingston as I have been promoting for 10 years, since 1995, this visit of the Chinese business interests, led at the very high level of a vice-president, is the ideal starting point.
Government should grasp the possibility with both hands and not let it get away.
Let us hope that it works.
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* Edward Seaga is a former Leader of the Opposition and
currently a Distinguished
Fellow at the University of
the West Indies.
