Jamaica's infrastructure development gets an A-grade
Published:Monday | October 14, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Western Bureau:
Acknowledging that Jamaica has faced severe financial constraints over the years, Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed says despite the challenges, the country has made sacrifices to undertake vast improvements to its infrastructure.
Reed, who gave the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) Expo 2013/Culinary Federation of Jamaica 'Taste of Jamaica' event, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre last Friday night, lauded successive leaders for their roles in this effort.
The mayor, who has been visiting Jamaica for more than 10 years, said he smiled with pride on his way to the multibillion-dollar convention centre when he saw the roads, the bridges and the improvements that have taken place.
"I remembered when it took two and a half hours to get to Negril on a road network that was zippy and dodgy," Reed related.
"And while you smile about it right now (the good road network), there was a leader who was alone in a room with advisers who had to make the call to make the investments when the money in the treasury might not have been full. These are not easy decisions to make."
Charging the business community to get on board and the mayor of Montego Bay to get off his laurels, Reed said concerted effort must be made in determining the city's future.
He pointed out that when he looked around Montego Bay and Jamaica at the facilities and assets, the city's fathers were all making a 10-year, 20-year, or 30-year decision.
He urged the business community to support the Montego Bay mayor and the head of the chamber, Nathan Robb to invest in infrastructure.
The City of Atlanta and Montego Bay have been twinned since 1984 and a similar partnership was forged between the chambers of commerce of the two cities.
Expo 2013, the 15th staging of the event, was held under the theme, 'Services Globalization … Enabling Business Development'.