Immigration to go paperless amid US$140m Sangster upgrade
Published:Monday | April 3, 2023 | 1:22 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Jamaica’s immigration system is set to go paperless, and vehicles dropping off departing passengers will soon no longer exit the arrivals area as part of a US$140-million expansion at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James.
The expansion will include significant transformative changes, including the removal of the gas station at the airport, which will provide much-needed land for the project.
It is anticipated that the new measures will improve the service quality and make Jamaica more competitive in the tourism industry.
In recent weeks, the bottleneck experienced when passengers from back-to-back flights meet up in the immigration hall has given the island a black eye, with a social media user’s video of an hourslong wait to be processed being widely circulated.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who toured the multimillion-dollar expanded runway project in Montego Bay on Saturday, described the rest of the facility as outdated.
“Great improvement will be made in improving the service. This US$140-million investment will make Jamaica more competitive,” he told journalists in the presence of MBJ Airports Limited CEO Shane Munroe and his team.
Already, US$70 million has been spent on the project, which included lengthening the runway by 400 metres, relocating roads, and installing new underground utilities to protect the shoreline. Eighty-five per cent of the runway has been completed, Munroe disclosed.
In June, another US$70 million is to be spent on expansions of the check-in hall, outbound security, the east concourse, an air-sea lounge, landside roadworks, and a car park. A mobile gas station will service the airport.
Holness wants a world-class airport, noting that it often shapes a visitor’s first impression of the country.
The prime minister believes that modernity and progress are the way forward. He said that going paperless is strategic as this will improve the services.
“We’re making great investments in integrating technology in the immigration process, and hopefully, very soon, we will be able to give a seamless experience. This is what I would call strategic nation building,” he stated.
Holness emphasised that the work being carried out by MBJ Airports Limited was a massive investment in Jamaica’s travel infrastructure, which will make the island more attractive and more competitive with other countries in the region.
He said that other regions have invested heavily in improving their infrastructure, giving them a greater advantage for tourism dollars.
“Jamaica is on a robust [re]branding … and part of that strategy is the infrastructure to match the brand and what people like about the brand,” he argued.
He posited that the wider Jamaican community may be questioning the importance of the investment. He wants the country to understand that this will benefit 90 per cent of the people.
“When we are able to open our countries to other destinations, it increases our visitor potential, which increases our earnings from tourism, which increases our revenues, which means that the Government can spend more on the things that matter to you – education, health, the road in your community, and your water supply,” Holness said.
According to him, there is no other way for the Government to bring economic development, social development, and infrastructure development to the nation’s doorstep other than to invest in the economy and the infrastructure of the country.
“And this is what this Government is doing. And, in fact, I would dare say that this Government is making more investment in infrastructure and in our economy than any other government in the last 50 years, and that is without doubt,” he stated.
The prime minister and his team, including ministers Dr Horace Chang, Marlene Malahoo-Forte, and Homer Davis, as well as Member of Parliament Heroy Clarke and Senator Charles Sinclair, also toured the Cornwall Regional Hospital on the weekend.