GOVERNMENT IS projecting the generation of nearly 28,000 jobs in the coming financial year, Development Minister Dr. Paul Robertson told the two-day Cabinet retreat which began on Monday at Jamaica House.
The administration expects the job boom to be driven by planned tourism projects.
According to the minister, the addition of 10,000 new hotel rooms over the next two to three years would result in 10,000 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs.
The expansion of rooms will be undertaken in eight projects including the Harmony Cove Development project announced by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in his Budget presentation last year.
Other projects identified by the minister include the Palmyra Hotel and Condominium Development at Rose Hall, St. James, AM Resorts in Oyster Bay Trelawny, Fiesta Resorts in Hanover and Sunset Beach. The eight projects will result in investments totalling over US$759 million. Other hotel projects include the construction of RIU 3, Sandals Whitehouse, Iberostar, Pinero and the reopening of the Jamaica Grande Hotel.
EXPANSION TO BAUXITE SECTOR
In the area of bauxite and alumina, a US$800 million expansion is slated for the JAMALCO plant in Halse Hall, which will generate 2,500 jobs for construction workers. The expansion is expected to generate some US$300 million in gross foreign exchange earnings per annum as of 2007, which is the expected date of completion.
The manufacturing sector is also expected to realise expansion worth US$192 million. This as Carib Cement will upgrade its plant with an investment of US$100 million which will generate 350 construction jobs. The Rinkers Group is slated to invest US$50 million in the St. Ann Limestone Quarrying Facility which will become operational in fiscal year 2006, while the company Chemical Lime is expected to undertake a US$42 million investment in a limestone quarrying project which should be finalised by mid-year.
