Falmouth's port
Published:Wednesday | August 18, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
The series of articles in The Sunday Gleaner regarding Falmouth suggests we are going the same route as Port Antonio, where we have a fancy port facility and some fancy shops around the pier, but very little major infrastructure development of the town and plans to ensure benefits for the people of Falmouth.
This is why I believe the approach we need to take should resemble that of Port Royal, where we adopt a holistic planning and management of the entire town, which is the right approach. If not, the people of the town will be totally marginalised and get few benefits, compared to the main retailers.
Inbond merchants
The other issue is that the shops are priced at a level at which most of the retail will only be affordable to either well-established local inbond merchants or major international players and, again, I think this should not be our objective.
A major training and skills-development programme, as well as a small business development and loan programme, is needed to ensure the people of Falmouth, and Trelawny in particular, are the major beneficiaries.
I am etc.,
Robert Stephens,
Pragma Consultants Ltd