UWI Principal to Lead Logistics Hub Coordinating Team

Principal of the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, Professor Gordon Shirley, is to chair the National Task Force, which will lead the charge in coordinating all the critical infrastructural and labour factors for the Logistics Hub initiative.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, made the announcement on Tuesday, April 30, in her contribution to the 2013/14 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives.

[RELATED: Logistics Hub a Central Plank in Growth Strategy – PM]

She said that in recognition of the enormity and complexity of these challenges, Cabinet approved the establishment of the National Task Force, which will coordinate the work needed to ensure that the country benefits from the significant interest being shown by serious investors.

She noted that “putting in place all the factors needed to exploit the country’s location is not a trivial job. It requires coordination of several variables: availability of trained labour, availability of required infrastructure; availability of reliable power and water services. We need all hands on board to coordinate these developments.”

“This Task Force is not operating against some distant horizon. They are faced with urgent work, even as we speak,” she said.

The Government is seeking to take advantage of the increase in the movement of goods when the expanded Panama Canal opens in 2015.

It is moving ahead to prepare the workforce, build out the necessary infrastructure, and put in place the legislative arrangements that will allow the country to take its place as the world’s fourth node in the global supply chain.

[Download the Prime Minister’s 2013-14 Budget Presentation]

By Alphea Saunders, JIS Reporter