Development Projects to Generate 27,800 Jobs

Development Minister Dr. the Hon. Paul Robertson has disclosed that the development projects to be undertaken in the 2005/06 financial year will generate over 27,800 jobs. The Minister was updating the Cabinet at the two-day Cabinet Retreat which began yesterday (Feb. 21) at Jamaica House.
In giving a breakdown of the projects and employment generation prospects, the Minister said that the addition of 10,000 new hotel rooms over the next two to three years would result in 10,000 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs.
According to the Minister, the expansion of rooms will be undertaken in eight projects including the Harmony Cove Development project announced by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in his Budget presentation last year. Other projects identified by the Minister include the Palmyra Hotel and Condominium Development at Rose Hall St. James, AM Resorts in Oyster Bay Trelawny, Fiesta Resorts in Hanover and Sunset Beach. The eight projects will result in investments totaling over US$759 Million. Other hotel projects include the construction of RIU 3, Sandals Whitehouse, Iberostar, Pinero and the reopening of the Jamaica Grande Hotel.
In the area of bauxite and alumina, a US$800 Million expansion is slated for the JAMALCO Plant in Halse Hall, which will generate 2,500 jobs for construction workers. The expansion is expected to generate some US$300 Million in gross foreign exchange earnings per annum as of 2007, which is the expected date of completion.
The manufacturing sector is also expected to realize expansion worth US$192 Million. This as Carib Cement will upgrade its plant with an investment of US$100 Million which will generate 350 construction jobs. The Rinkers Group is slated to invest US$50 Million in the St. Ann Limestone Quarrying Facility which will become operational in fiscal year 2006, while the company Chemical Lime is expected to undertake a US$42 Million investment in a limestone quarrying project which should be finalized by mid-year.