United Nations 2030 SDGs adopted by JSEZA

The Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority (JSEZA) has adopted the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are being targeted for attainment within 12 years in relation to a wide range of social- and economic-development issues.

These focus on addressing education, energy, the environment, health, hunger, poverty, decent work, and economic-growth.

The SDGs form part of the Special Economic Zones' developmental framework in Jamaica and are thought to be pivotal to fulfilling the SEZ's mandate.

This mandate focuses on developing a regime and environment in which globally competitive firms thrive while driving unprecedented growth and development for all stakeholders/interests in a logistics-centred economy, as articulated in the government's SEZ policy.

The SDGs deemed directly aligned with the SEZ mandate are Goals 7 - affordable and clean energy; 8 - decent work and economic growth; 9 - industry, innovation, and infrastructure; 11 - sustainable cities and communities; 12 - responsible consumption and production; and 17 - partnerships for the goals.

Director of Investor Relations and Communications at JSEZA Kelli-Dawn Hamilton notes that the Authority needs to be in a position to determine whether a potential investment is consistent with the SEZ regime's overall developmental objectives.

To this end, the entity must weigh the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of proposed projects by considering their potential to contribute to Jamaica achieving targets in the SEZ Policy, the Vision 2030 Jamaica National Development Plan, the Logistics Hub Initiative Master Plan, and Industry Analysis, and SDGs.

Major SEZs to be developed in St Elizabeth, St Catherine

"So, we are talking about ensuring that the projects that we are facilitating ... will help to alleviate poverty, positively impact the environment, and ensure the safety and security of our workers ... Jamaicans in general," Hamilton told JIS News.

She points out that the manner in which the JSEZA is pursuing and attracting investments and facilitating entities within the SEZ framework is quite meaningful and is also in keeping with international standards.

"We are not doing this haphazardly ... we are doing this responsibly in order to achieve an overarching goal, which is the economic development of the country and helping to achieve Vision 2030 - making Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business," Hamilton said.

One aspect of the SEZ buildout where this will be significantly manifested is in the development of two major zones in Nain, St Elizabeth, and Caymanas Estate, St Catherine.

JSEZA Chairman, Metry Seaga, who notes that the Authority is "intimately involved" in the work to develop those areas, says that they would entail commercial, industrial, educational, recreational and residential components, all being streamlined into developing new townships.

Hamilton also argues that the JSEZA is intent on being "true to the word 'Zone', where you are looking at the development of townships that will have research facilities as well as the natural resources required for inputs into the productive sectors operating within that zone".

"So, when we say we are going about things in a holistic way ... when we talk about connecting the dots ... we are talking about putting all the moving parts into one location," she added.