MONTEGO BAY DEVELOPMENT: Tony Hart, chairman of Montego Freeport (standing), announces a multimillion-pound deepwater pier and resort development, at a news conference at the Blairgowrie Hotel in Montego Bay, in January 1968. Prime Minister, the Hon. Hugh Shearer (seated second left), discusses plans for the building of the 480-room, 2.8 million pound Montego Towers, the first hotel to go up at Montego Freeport. Also at the table, are Hon. Herbert Eldemire (left), Minister of Health and The Hon. John Gyles (right), Minister of Agriculture.
MINING
January 20, 1961: Twelve massive slabs of marble, weighing from two to six tons each, left the Royal Mail Wharf in Kingston for London, England, on board the s.s. Cienfueges. The boulders, some of them as long as seven feet, were mined near Bowden, St. Thomas, by Serge Island Estate. This was a sample shipment of Blue Mountain marble.
MANUFACTURING
January 21, 1961: Construction began on a three-acre site on Bell Road in the Industrial Estate of Kingston for a paint plant for Brandram-Henderson (W.I.) Limited. The factory would eventually employ between 30 and 40 persons. It had an annual capacity of 150,000 gallons and would manufacture for the Jamaican market and for export to Caribbean countries.
CONSTRUCTION
January 22, 1971: West Indies Home Contractors announced a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, centrally air-conditioned villa with verandah and car porte at Edgewater in Portmore, St. Catherine. The cost was $12,800. A deposit of $1,280 was required and the monthly payments were to be $106.88.
BANKING
January 23, 1973: The enabling Workers Bank Act was passed by Parliament to establish the bank as a corporate body and absorbing the Government Savings Bank which had been operating since 1870. The bank would be the first commercial bank in Jamaica with 100 per cent Jamaican ownership and control.
PARLIAMENT
January 24, 1849: Major cuts were made to the budget by legislators in the Legislative Council. The cuts included halving of the salaries of the Speaker, the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms and Chaplain of the House.
MANUFACTURING
January 25, 1964: Ground was broken for the Caribbean Asbestos Products factory at River Bay on the Industrial Estate in Montego Bay, St. James. Businessman Tony Hart, who was its moving figure, announced that the factory would produce pipes for water supply systems and telephone underground conduits.
GOVERNMENT
January 26, 1987: A joint IMF/World Bank/US-AID team of officials arrived in Jamaica for a four-month assignment at the invitation of Prime Minister Edward Seaga. The team was here to help Jamaica formulate and pursue a consistent set of policies to strengthen the prospects for achieving three fundamental objectives. These were: (1) to increase the rate of economic growth so that living standards could begin to improve; (2) to reduce unemployment, and (3) to restore viability to the balance of payments.
- Compiled by Hartley Neita
