Building a Better Jamaica

Thursday, May 28, 2009
Jamaica Observer

The upcoming development of the Caymanas lands, along with the earmarking of funds for entrepreneurship, will directly stimulate the Portmore economy, prme minister Bruce Golding says.

He was speaking at a town hall meeting in the municipality Tuesday night.

Golding, who in his budget presentation earlier this month announced a $1-billion provision for micro and small businesses and $250 million for 2009 school leavers - said the Caymanas project should positively impact the lives of people in Portmore, which he described as the Caribbean's greatest concentration of skilled labour.

"Although Portmore has the largest concentration of skills, it also has one of the largest concentrations of underemployment; you can bring investments here and you can be assured that the skills can be found," the prime minister said to a large audience at the Portmore HEART Academy.

Golding said the Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP), also announced in his budget presentation, will be launched in July. He acknowledged that the project came with a high degree of risk, but said it was necessary to give youth a chance to create their own employment as the economy could not support large employers.

"It is an investment of faith. You have learned some things at school but may not have learned enough to fly entirely on your own, but let us hold your hand and let us see if we can help you to make a start and guide you to success," said Golding.

"If we can, encourage a new culture of entrepreneurship among young people so that they are not as dependent on jobs since the economy is not now in a position to provide jobs for the 39,000 persons we have leaving school each year; if we can help them with their own creativity and their own willingness to do hard work and if we can guide them, then what we can do is to enable them to move on the road to independence," added Golding.

Speaking further on the development of the Caymanas lands, the prime minister said a section was set aside for a university village where offshore colleges could use shared facilities. This, he said, would also generate a wide variety of jobs that Portmore would be able to satisfy.