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The Goodyear plant in St Thomas: Despair, tinged with hope
published: Sunday | April 10, 2005
Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
NEARLY A decade after the Goodyear tyre manufacturing plant, near Morant Bay, St. Thomas, was shut down, the plant stands, an empty shell, silent, except for the wind blowing through its hollow interior.
Now there is promise that the long drought may soon be over.
"The Factories Corporation they have been in discussion with a possible lessee who has been taken to the property. The Factories Corporation has sent the person the information required for an application to be made for a lease and they are awaiting a response from the person," Minister of Industry and Tourism, Aloun Assamba, disclosed.
It is a projection that is unlikely, however, to satisfy James Robertson, member of Parliament for Western St. Thomas, who has accused the Government of acting in bad faith regarding the former Goodyear plant.
EMPTY SPACE
Standing inside the older section of the plant recently, he gestured dramatically towards the empty space: "What you're seeing here are dashed dreams; what you're seeing here is a vision and a hope for St. Thomas and Jamaica going back to Robert Lightbourne (former industry minister and MP for Western St. Thomas). You see a past and a sense of neglect, electrical fittings hanging and young people wondering what would have caused a building like this to go to waste."
Right beside the old decaying factory, closed in 1997, stands a modern structure, renovated for use, possibly as an information technology 'village'.
Anthony Hylton, MP for Western St. Thomas from 1993 to 2002, was at the forefront of moves to restore the property to productive use after the closure of the tyre manufacturing plant.
"Given the role that Goodyear had played in the economy of St. Thomas it was clear that we had to find an alternative to the tyre manufacturing operation." We noticed that Goodyear was one of the first victims of a globalising and liberalising environment and so we thought that the solution would lie in one of the new growth areas, that being information technology," he explained.
That idea led to the construction of the new building on the site, a building that, however, has remained unused since it was constructed.
Robertson of the Jamaica Labour Party, defeated Hylton of the governing People's National Party in the 2002 General Election. His expectations of a smooth start to his tenure with hundreds of young people gaining employment at the promised IT facility have not materialised; and he says he smells a political rat.
"This building was renovated three years ago at a cost of approximately $250 million (his figures). If you put the interest into that and the security cost, you could be looking at half a billion dollars that's been left to go to waste," he complained.
The MP does not believe that it is by chance that this dream has not materialised, arguing that the project was used as a vote-catching ruse in the lead-up to the 2002 General Election.
"This is where the production train was launched four years ago with that promise of forty thousand jobs. These young people in St. Thomas were among the first whose names were taken with a promise of jobs, but not one of these jobs has been delivered," he said.
The former MP, Anthony Hylton, strongly rejects this accusation, saying this was a sincere effort to generate jobs and a viable economic option for St. Thomas. Good-year, he said, was "part of our development plan, a plan not generated for an election. In fact it was generated long before the election was contemplated and it was on that basis that we made representation I myself invested resources, as member of Parliament, in upgrading several community centres with a view to training young people for employment in IT at the Goodyear facility"
Industry Minister, Aloun Assamba, equally rejects the accusation. When the renovation started, she said, "There was a possible tenant, but that arrangement fell through." Undaunted by that setback, she said, Fact-ories Corpora-tion "has taken numerous persons out to the factory to look at it for IT and other purposes."
Such efforts, she said had been frustrated largely by the location. The distance from Kingston, she said had been a turnoff for manufacturers who were not happy at the prospect of having to transport supplies out to the rural community. Similarly, she said, most IT firms expressed a desire to operate in and around Kingston.
The problems associated with the Yallahs river in St. Thomas and the frequent disruption of the road link across this waterway has been a constant problem for those promoting investments in St. Thomas.
"My position has not changed from when I was member of Parliament, that is, the need to build a bridge across the river. And I remain of the view that investment will be affected adversely if we do not have a permanent solution to the Yallahs fording," Hylton concluded.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Assamba is expressing renewed hope, with Factories Corporation involved in the discussion with the prospective lessee referred to above.
Likewise, she said, the investment promotion agency, JAMPRO, had been seeking tenants for the facility and incentives such as a moratorium on rental had been offered in some instances, just to get the project moving.
Based on those efforts, she expressed optimism that "in a short while we should be able to have the facility occupied."
The Goodyear plant in St Thomas: Despair, tinged with hope
published: Sunday | April 10, 2005
Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
NEARLY A decade after the Goodyear tyre manufacturing plant, near Morant Bay, St. Thomas, was shut down, the plant stands, an empty shell, silent, except for the wind blowing through its hollow interior.
Now there is promise that the long drought may soon be over.
"The Factories Corporation they have been in discussion with a possible lessee who has been taken to the property. The Factories Corporation has sent the person the information required for an application to be made for a lease and they are awaiting a response from the person," Minister of Industry and Tourism, Aloun Assamba, disclosed.
It is a projection that is unlikely, however, to satisfy James Robertson, member of Parliament for Western St. Thomas, who has accused the Government of acting in bad faith regarding the former Goodyear plant.
EMPTY SPACE
Standing inside the older section of the plant recently, he gestured dramatically towards the empty space: "What you're seeing here are dashed dreams; what you're seeing here is a vision and a hope for St. Thomas and Jamaica going back to Robert Lightbourne (former industry minister and MP for Western St. Thomas). You see a past and a sense of neglect, electrical fittings hanging and young people wondering what would have caused a building like this to go to waste."
Right beside the old decaying factory, closed in 1997, stands a modern structure, renovated for use, possibly as an information technology 'village'.
Anthony Hylton, MP for Western St. Thomas from 1993 to 2002, was at the forefront of moves to restore the property to productive use after the closure of the tyre manufacturing plant.
"Given the role that Goodyear had played in the economy of St. Thomas it was clear that we had to find an alternative to the tyre manufacturing operation." We noticed that Goodyear was one of the first victims of a globalising and liberalising environment and so we thought that the solution would lie in one of the new growth areas, that being information technology," he explained.
That idea led to the construction of the new building on the site, a building that, however, has remained unused since it was constructed.
Robertson of the Jamaica Labour Party, defeated Hylton of the governing People's National Party in the 2002 General Election. His expectations of a smooth start to his tenure with hundreds of young people gaining employment at the promised IT facility have not materialised; and he says he smells a political rat.
"This building was renovated three years ago at a cost of approximately $250 million (his figures). If you put the interest into that and the security cost, you could be looking at half a billion dollars that's been left to go to waste," he complained.
The MP does not believe that it is by chance that this dream has not materialised, arguing that the project was used as a vote-catching ruse in the lead-up to the 2002 General Election.
"This is where the production train was launched four years ago with that promise of forty thousand jobs. These young people in St. Thomas were among the first whose names were taken with a promise of jobs, but not one of these jobs has been delivered," he said.
The former MP, Anthony Hylton, strongly rejects this accusation, saying this was a sincere effort to generate jobs and a viable economic option for St. Thomas. Good-year, he said, was "part of our development plan, a plan not generated for an election. In fact it was generated long before the election was contemplated and it was on that basis that we made representation I myself invested resources, as member of Parliament, in upgrading several community centres with a view to training young people for employment in IT at the Goodyear facility"
Industry Minister, Aloun Assamba, equally rejects the accusation. When the renovation started, she said, "There was a possible tenant, but that arrangement fell through." Undaunted by that setback, she said, Fact-ories Corpora-tion "has taken numerous persons out to the factory to look at it for IT and other purposes."
Such efforts, she said had been frustrated largely by the location. The distance from Kingston, she said had been a turnoff for manufacturers who were not happy at the prospect of having to transport supplies out to the rural community. Similarly, she said, most IT firms expressed a desire to operate in and around Kingston.
The problems associated with the Yallahs river in St. Thomas and the frequent disruption of the road link across this waterway has been a constant problem for those promoting investments in St. Thomas.
"My position has not changed from when I was member of Parliament, that is, the need to build a bridge across the river. And I remain of the view that investment will be affected adversely if we do not have a permanent solution to the Yallahs fording," Hylton concluded.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Assamba is expressing renewed hope, with Factories Corporation involved in the discussion with the prospective lessee referred to above.
Likewise, she said, the investment promotion agency, JAMPRO, had been seeking tenants for the facility and incentives such as a moratorium on rental had been offered in some instances, just to get the project moving.
Based on those efforts, she expressed optimism that "in a short while we should be able to have the facility occupied."
The Goodyear plant in St Thomas: Despair, tinged with hope