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Growth & Jobs | JAMPRO, gov't partners promote infrastructure projects at CARIF 2017

Published:Friday | December 15, 2017 | 12:00 AM
Contributed
Ricardo Durrant, senior manager, sales and promotions, at JAMPRO (left), and Don Gittens, manager, logistics and infrastructure, at JAMPRO (centre), listen attentively to Aamir Alavi, economic/commercial officer at the US Embassy in Kingston during a discussion on Jamaica’s infrastructure, at an investment briefing held at CARIF 2017, last week Monday.

As Jamaica seeks investments to further develop the country's infrastructure, JAMPRO and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), in collaboration with the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the National Water Commission (NWC), hosted an investment briefing last week Monday in Montego Bay at the 2nd Caribbean Infrastructure Forum (CARIF 2017). The briefing targeted more than 40 investors to promote Jamaican investment projects in infrastructure.

The event presented projects to the investors who are in the island to explore Caribbean business opportunities. The projects include the redevelopment of downtown Kingston, the development of Jamaica's logistics sector, and potential investments in real estate.

The Government partners said that the investments aimed to improve not only Jamaica's infrastructure, but to promote economic and social development to meet Jamaica's goals for Vision 2030. The partners are collaborating to bring more investments into the infrastructure sector, which is crucial to growing other industries and Jamaica's capacity to expand its economy.

 

URBAN RENEWAL

 

Presentations focusing on the urban renewal of downtown Kingston, improving Jamaica's water infrastructure, and investing in Jamaica were made by Dr Damian Graham, general manager of the UDC; Mark Barnett, president of the National Water Commission; and Ricardo Durrant, senior manager of sales and promotions at JAMPRO, respectively. The audience included investors from North America, the Caribbean, and Europe.

Diane Edwards, president of JAMPRO, explained that the agency was heavily promoting infrastructure for development in addition to its work with logistics as part of its new approach to promoting Jamaica for investments. She said: "Jamaica needs a holistic investment strategy to ensure that all sectors can grow synergistically in a sustainable way. We must not only bring investments in booming sectors like BPO and tourism, but we must improve the infrastructure that underpins these sectors. This partnership with the UDC and DBJ, as well as other linkage and project generation initiatives, are all part of JAMPRO's new holistic approach to promoting investments that not only attract new projects, but develop the ecosystem and hard and soft business infrastructure so that more local players can enjoy the benefits of these investments."

Hosted by New Energy Events and Euromoney Group, CARIF 2017 is a central forum to address and promote the need for substantial investment in infrastructure in the Caribbean. The Jamaica Promotions Corporation's (JAMPRO) mission is to drive economic development through growth in investment and export. JAMPRO is an agency of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.