Andrew Wildes, Gleaner Writer
Former Prime Minister, Edward Seaga (right) confers with the
general secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party, Karl Samuda, at the West Central St. Andrew Trust Charity Dinner, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel last Saturday. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
FORMER PRIME Minister of Jamaica and Distinguished Fellow
at the University of the West Indies, Edward Seaga, says the Government is yet
to respond to his proposal to reclaim land from the Kingston Harbour to establish
a freezone and create work for the unemployed, two years after it was first
mooted.
"Many years ago I put forward a major project which could fill the gap [of unemployment] and that is reclamation of land in Kingston Harbour to create a massive freeport zone," said Mr. Seaga last Saturday evening. He was speaking at the West Central St. Andrew Trust Charity Dinner at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel which was held in aid of Member of Parliament Andrew Holness.
He proposed that the free zone would be "one that [combines] what is done in all the other freeport zones in the Caribbean -- the one in Bahamas, the one in the Dominican Republic and the one in Panama."
JOBS FOR MANY
Mr. Seaga suggested that the project would provide jobs for the many unemployed youth living in and around downtown Kingston. He argued that no public works, agricultural or manufacturing prospects could absorb the thousands of unemployed youths in downtown Kingston. Currently, communities in the area have significantly high levels of unemployment, particularly among the unskilled. It is argued that the high level of unemployment is among the leading causes of poverty, crime and violence in these areas.
While admitting that the Port Authority of Jamaica has done some work in creating a freeport area for transhipment, Mr. Seaga said there is little prospect of job creation by their actions.
"What they are doing is unloading containers and putting them on another ship and sending them out.
What we want is to get the containers in there from countries who will set up warehouses, open the containers to sell the goods and bring buyers into Jamaica instead of buyers going out of Jamaica," he said.
