The Jamaica National Bi-centenary Committee has allocated $10 million for the construction of an arrival point monument on the Kingston waterfront.

This will serve to memorialise the experience of African slaves, who were brought to Jamaica during the transatlantic slave trade over 200 years ago.

Chairman of the committee, Professor Verene Shepherd, made the announcement at the launch of Opposition Senator Anthony Johnson's City of Kingston Souvenir book (second edition), at the Bank of Jamaica auditorium last week. She issued an invitation to the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) to collaborate with the committee to make this happen before the end of the year.

"We need an arrival point monument to mark the spot where so many of our ancestors came on shore, with a sample of the name of the ships on which they came, as well as a sample of the names of the many who arrived, for we must learn their names and stop referring to them collectively as slaves," Prof. Shepherd said. "Let us not allow this year to end without constructing such a marker so that our people can have a spot for an annual pilgrimage to memorialise their past."