EDITORIAL - Awaiting a vote of confidence

On a scale not demonstrated by the Government itself, one transnational company has shown faith in the possibility of the renewal of downtown Kingston.

Digicel, the Ireland-based telecommunications company, has not only broken ground for the construction of the headquarters for its Jamaica operations downtown, but has pumped upwards of $200 million into the rehabilitation of markets in the area. The Government has had plans, only implemented in the most half-hearted fashion, for the rehabilitation of the market district for at least the last 25 years and spanning several administrations.

Last Thursday, as the company handed over the section of Coronation Market that it had refurbished and upgraded, CEO Colm Delves reiterated that Digicel has big plans for downtown Kingston. "This is all part of bringing downtown Kingston back to its former glory, the Digicel Jamaica boss said.

While we welcome what private enterprise is undertaking, the Government of Jamaica needs to catch this vision and act upon it decisively. There has been enough messing around while delivering pretty talk.

Victim of political wars

The deterioration of downtown Kingston was neither accidental nor unavoidable. Downtown Kingston, and generally the parish of Kingston, is to a large extent the victim of the political wars waged by the forces of 'garrisonisation'. Infrastructure and private property have been damaged, businesses, and agencies of Government itself, have made an exodus out of downtown. There are few major companies now headquartered downtown, notably GraceKennedy and the Bank of Nova Scotia. The fire damage to the Coronation Market, which Digicel has spent millions to restore, was linked to the upheaval in the area connected to the Coke extradition.

Ironically, as a newcomer telecommunications company heads downtown, the Government-owned JAMINTEL building remains unoccupied while the Government pays out millions of dollars for the rental of office space in better appointed locations uptown. The nation's Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the offices of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, seats of central and local government, are surrounded by the decay of what used to be the prime commercial and administrative centre of the city and of the whole country.

Enormous development potential

There must be few other cities in the world where the waterfront is not the most sought-after and highly developed real estate. Geographically, Kingston has one of the world's great waterfronts with enormous development potential.

With the best intentions in the world, the investment of private companies cannot alone turn around downtown Kingston. The Government has a critical role to play. The crime problem, including the pervasive and crippling extortion, must be brought under control. And we commend the steps being taken in the right direction in this regard and the results in crime reduction which we are beginning to see. Infrastructure must be restored and upgraded. And, perhaps most important, the Government must cast the vote of confidence in downtown which Digicel has by reversing the exodus of public agencies from the area.

Commerce and culture will flow back to the heart of the city if the area is safe and clean, accessible and aesthetically inviting, and if confidence in its potential is raised. The vision which an overseas-based company, along with the Jamaican businesses which have resolutely remained there, has for 'bringing downtown Kingston back to its former glory' must be caught by the Government and acted upon. The Digicel investment has provided a most opportune moment.

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