The PM should recommit to downtown

Today, Prime Minister Bruce Golding will preside over the formal opening in downtown Kingston of the new offices of the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA). That agency used to have its offices in New Kingston, the uptown area of the capital.

According to the Government's information arm, the Jamaica Information Service, SMA's decision to relocate downtown - from which companies and state agencies left in droves starting in the 1970s - "supports the prime minister's 2007 mandate that public-sector entities should pursue moving corporate offices into the city centre".

That mandate appears not to apply to Mr Karl Samuda, the investment and commerce minister, who recently announced and reiterated his decision to move the offices of the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) to New Kingston.

If Mr Golding's policy is to have any credibility, he must today publicly countermand Mr Samuda and underline that the Government will lead the process for the rejuvenation of downtown. Failure to prevent FCJ's move will only undermine the prime minister's authority.

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