Prime Minister Golding should have followed his instincts. It would have been best had there not been another set off, as he put it, "grandiose announcements" about the redevelopment of downtown Kingston. They ought to have just got on with the job. They still can - and should.

Of course, we appreciate the need for macro-planning of the kind conducted by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and unveiled by Mr Golding last Wednesday. But we have been there before - the ideas, the projects, the big announcements.

That is precisely part of the problem - this search for something grand and glitzy. We, however, offer a different approach to the resuscitation of downtown: KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid! And this is substantially in Mr Golding's gift as prime minister.

He has the authority, if he so wishes, to insist that government ministries and agencies begin to return downtown, which is not dependent on the execution of those schemes that were repackaged for the PM's announcement. For, as we pointed out in these columns, previously, while ministries and agencies spend millions of dollars for space uptown or crowd out the private sector with real estate purchases, government organisations have thousands of square feet of empty space downtown.

Take the Postal Corporation of Jamaica's Central Sorting Office; it has at least 50,000 square feet of space in its building and could probably squeeze in several thousand more by rationalising its operations. The UDC itself has more than 100,000 square feet available, and that does not include the underutilised Oceana hotel, which is growing derelict.

So, if Mr Golding is serious, he could start by demanding that the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Export/Import Bank, the more recent and egregious examples of irresponsibility, reverse their purchases of properties in New Kingston for cheaper accommodation in the old section of the city.

We would also advise Mr Golding to put on hold the plan to build a new foreign ministry complex - even though, like the PIOJ, the mandarins in that ministry will argue that central government money will not be used. Instead, the concentration should be on the acquisition of many of the old, largely Georgian structures downtown for renovation as government offices and for private enterprises. If required, the administration must be willing to introduce and enact legislation to take over derelict buildings whose owners fail to undertake their renovations within a specific time period.

Funds saved

Some of the cash saved on rental by moving downtown could be allocated to the resuscitation of residential communities in the central Kingston area, which Mr Ronald Thwaites complained were being overlooked in the latest plan.

We know that dealing with the decay that characterises downtown is not easy and will demand more than having government institutions in that part of the city. There is the demand for all types of other social interventions and strong security. People from all social strata want to feel safe.

But, as Mr Golding well knows, leadership by (good) example is a most powerful tool. It is of little value to tell people about the merits of locating downtown and offering incentives for them to do so, while the government is heading helter-skelter uptown. And downtown is good for the taxpayer, whatever the PIOJ or Ex/Im Bank may think.