Vision 2030 Offers Opportunities for Development – St. Catherine Chamber of Commerce President

The national strategic development plan, Vision 2030, is receiving the support of the business community and other stakeholders of the parish of St. Catherine.

Following a recent public consultation held at the Open Bible church Hall in Twickenham Park, President of the St. Catherine Chamber of Commerce, Don Robotham and Member of Parliament for South Central St. Catherine, Sharon Haye-Webster told JIS News that they were impressed with the proposals of Vision 2030 and the direction in which the plan proposes to take the country.

Mr. Robotham said the broad outlay of the plan and what it hoped to achieve offered the parish and Jamaica many opportunities for development. “This is the first step and the paperwork seems properly put together. I am willing to give them that chance to see where we go from here because we have got to begin to put the rubber to the road. I have confidence that we will see something come to fruition,” he said.

Mr. Robotham said that if incentives were placed on the table he is confident that the private sector would fully support the development plan. “We just need to see the direction and where the rubber meets the road and all of us would come on board and make Jamaica what it should be,” he noted.

Meanwhile, lauding the plan as “encouraging” and the consultations as “the right thing to do” Member of Parliament Sharon Haye-Webster said consultation is an imperative.

Mrs. Haye-Webster said people-involvement was critical if the outlined goals were to be achieved. Pointing to migration as a significant factor in the underdevelopment of any country she called for Jamaicans to support the plan. “We don’t need any more migration from Jamaica. We need to build our own vision and own it and cause them to come to us,” she told JIS News.

The Member of Parliament noted that the subliminal potential for the 2030 project to push-start communities and pockets of development within communities across the island was tremendous and that Spanish Town was poised to capitalize on this.

Vision 2030 is a strategic, long term national development plan, which seeks to put the country in a position to achieve its full potential and achieve developed country status in 22 years.