Susan Smith, Staff Reporter
Mrs. Scarlette Gillings (right), the executive director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), welcomes from left, the The Honourable Franklin Khan, Minister of Works and Transport for Trinidad and Tobago and Mrs. Khan. Sharing in the occasion is His Excellency Dennis Francis, Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner. Occasion was the welcome reception held recently for Minister Khan who was invited by the Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica to be guest speaker at their annual awards dinner. - Contributed
JAMAICA IS set to benefit from the construction boom in Trinidad says, Minister of Transport and Works for Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Franklin Khan. He was addressing members of the Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica (IMAJ) as guest speaker at their annual awards dinner held at the Jamaica Pegasus recently.
According to the minister, Trinidad and Tobago will have to source additional labour from the region in order to take on the many construction programmes lined up for year 2005. This eventuality should present major business and employment prospects for Jamaica and other regional partners.
Last year, the twin island republic allocated TT$1.7 billion (J$16.7 billion) to the development of the social and economic infrastructure of the country. The major areas targeted for development in year 2005 include energy and petroleum chemicals, housing, building and national highways.
ROOM FOR PROFESSIONALS
The government plans to invest in excess of TT$3.5 billion (J$34.37billion) for national highways programmes which is to include the development of a light rail mass transit system.
"Considering the magnitude and scope of the programmes, there is definitely room for inflows of professional and artisan skills and capital into the Trinidad and Tobago construction sector," said Mr. Khan.
He specified that personnel in the construction sector are urgently needed in Trinidad and Tobago because of the dearth of skills experienced there.
"The process must be considered as an opportunity for regional private sector companies to part take in, including Jamaica," continued Mr. Khan.
To facilitate the construction boom, Mr. Khan pointed out that the three governments of Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago pledged to have aspects of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) ready by the end of 2004 especially where it relates to the free movement of capital and labour.
President of the IMAJ, Mr. Don Mullings, says Jamaica intends to exploit these opportunities. With regards to having local contractors bid for contracts to build some 8,200 houses in Trinidad and Tobago in year 2005 at an estimated cost of $TT1.23 billion (J$12.08 billion), Mr. Mullings said, "We will certainly be interested in going down there."
Mr. Khan said the significant shortage of housing in Trinidad and Tobago has moved the government to build 100,000 more houses in the next ten years.
MASSIVE EXPANSIONS
The developments, he said, will take place concurrently with growing other aspects of the economy. "The development of an economy is not about infrastructure but giving efficiency of service."
Mr. Mullings also reported a boom in Jamaica's local building and construction sector. The buoyancy is driven by massive expansions in tourism building projects, the manufacturing sector, highway expansion programmes and water supply projects.
With construction activities becoming borderless for CARICOM nationals, Mr. Khan hopes for some type of revolution within the industry.
