Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
A 15-MEMBER Chinese delegation will be arriving in Jamaica later this month for talks on the restoration of the railway service from Kingston to Spanish Town and Portmore, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has said.
The Prime Minister made the announcement of the arrival of the Chinese during Monday's weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
"The team is coming by the end of July, at the very latest, and they will be visiting the routes, they will have to be looking at it from a technical and engineering perspective," he said.
Mr. Patterson said that the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) is coordinating the visit.
He could not say when resumption of the service would take place but pointed out that this will be determined by the technical visit.
FOLLOW-UP VISIT
The pending visit of the Chinese is a follow-up to February's signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Jamaica and China to revive the railway. The proposal was among a dozen bilateral agreements signed between the two countries during the China-Caribbean Trade Fair, held over four days.
Under the agreement, China would also provide adequate types and numbers of passenger coaches, including cargo, wagons and locomotives for the system.
Mr. Patterson also announced that the government would be pursuing a detailed feasibility study with the Chinese with the intention of exporting bauxite to that country.
"The agreement to pursue a detailed feasibility study for the building of a plant in the parish of St. Ann that will be responsible for exporting for a very brief period bauxite, in the first instance, but very soon after aluminium for use in China," he said.
The Chinese have also expressed interests in redeveloping a China Town in downtown Kingston and possible collaboration between Shanghai and Montego Bay.
Effective August 1, Chinese and Jamaican businesspersons will be issued with multiple-entry visas to facilitate business travels between both countries.
