Durrant Pate/Contributor

In its critique of the national J$1.3 trillion budget, Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Julian Robinson, has articulated a new way for the Jamaican economy including a revamp public transportation, improvements in labour productivity, and an upward migration of local companies up the value chain and greater State assistance for growing small businesses.

Robinson detailed his People’s National Party (PNP) vision for the national economy to release it from the shackles of underperformance and tinkering over successive administrations.

Making his contribution to the 2024/25 Budget Debate in Parliament on Thursday (March 14), Robinson made a case for rethinking public transportation, acknowledging that while reinvesting in the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), restructuring its management and operations to a service delivery-focused model is necessary, it is not sufficient. 

”Even if we had a functioning bus system, our urban centres are growing at such a rate that we need to explore other modes of transport wherever feasible. Mister Speaker, successive Jamaican governments have been diligent about studying, but not implementing good ideas. And while the idea for a light transit rail system particularly for the Kingston Metropolitan Area is not a new one, it is one whose time has come,” Robinson told MPs in the House of Representatives. 

Flooded with proposals and suggestions 

Robinson stated that since he raised the issue of public transportation and its effect on productivity in his  Constituency Report to Parliament last year, he has been flooded with ideas, concept documents and proposals from all over the world for light rail systems. He noted that many of those proposals include suggestions on how to use light rail lines, which can run overhead or on the ground to improve connectivity within Kingston and the KMA, connecting in most cases, key destinations and transportation hubs such as Spanish Town, Portmore, Half-Way-Tree, downtown Kingston, Cross Roads, Papine, Constant Spring. 

The Opposition finance spokesman mused that, “this would alleviate traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions, and boost productivity”.

“Madam Speaker, by providing fast, reliable, and environmentally friendly transportation options, we can enhance economic opportunities, and contribute to the overall productivity of the nation,” he added.

Addressing labour productivity

Touching on labour productivity, Robinson proposed a mass movement to fix labour productivity through education and training, one that is data-driven, and done in partnership with the private sector to immediately upskill the domestic workforce. 

“We also need to catch those ‘failing up’, those who exit the formal learning system with few or no qualifications, and who fall into the category of ‘at-risk youth’ with short-term training with a combination of soft skills and technical education which provides graduates with certification in particular areas demanded by the private sector. Those types of interventions have the potential to reach thousands of disengaged Jamaicans, who have no hope and see migration as their only way out,” he told the House of Representatives.

National push to help companies 

He cited the need for the incumbent administration to focus on technical support for business saying, “Jamaica needs a major national push to help companies to move up the value chain, improve technology use, to upskill, and retrain human resources and increase productivity. I’m speaking of companies of all sizes, large industrial manufacturers, but particularly those in the MSME space, which we know can be a major avenue for growth if nurtured and developed carefully.” 

Robinson also proposed that the government focus the resources of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation, Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), Scientific Research Council (SRC) and other institutions to provide technical assistance whether it is trade agreements, credit, financing, machinery, credits, staff training, research and development (R&D) in a concerted, deliberate way.

While admitting that some elements of this are already being done, Robinson declared that it is being done in a piecemeal way, not reflecting the importance of something so critical to the foundation of a new economy.

According to him, “There are funds allocated for MSMEs at the DBJ that have not been utilised, whether it’s because the process to get these funds is too bureaucratic, or because our entrepreneurs don’t have the acumen or the time to jump through the hoops. We need to simplify processes to ensure our business can access government programmes and initiatives but also ensure that whatever assistance provided allows the businesses to pursue higher value activities, make global linkages, and raise their productivity.”

“The problem is that we are feeling the effects of failure to change the extractive nature of our economy. The real problem is how to change the structure of the economy, so it benefits people equitably. The government’s budget points to more of the same, where the people must accept low educational outcomes, low wages and little prospects for even the most basic of human needs and well-being, like water and affordable housing. The time has come for us to nurture a people’s economy for development and growth, where growth is not pursued as the only end or even an end in itself, but a means to improving people’s well-being,”  he concluded.