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RAIL TALKS WITH CHINESE CONTINUE

Ms. Luo Yan, President of China Came Engineering C Ltd (left) and Minister Robert Pickersgill exchange gifts at the end of the meeting. Looking on are Mrs. Elsa-May Binns (right) and Mr. Tesfaye Mulu (seated).

On Wednesday May 16, A team from the Ministry of Housing, Transport, Water and Works, headed by Minister Robert Pickersgill met with an eight member delegation from China’s CAMCE Company to continue discussions on how the Chinese can assist in the resuscitation of the rail service in Jamaica.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister Pickersgill noted that the discussions were proceeding reasonably well, but that there was need to have further discussions with prospective stakeholders in terms of establishing the viability of this project.

Continuing he said, “ It is not a small project. It will turn out to be one of the largest projects in the country, since we are speaking about a sum of money in excess of US$300M. It is still early days yet, because we have to establish the viability, so that we will be able to repay the loan.”

The railway talks between the Government and the People’s Republic of China commenced in February 2005, when that country’s Vice President, His Excellency, Zeng Qinghong, on a visit to the island to participate in the inaugural China-Caribbean Trade Forum and Trade Fair, made a proposal to the Jamaican Government. This proposal, which was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was followed up with a return visit to China by former Prime Minister, P. J Patterson in June 2005, where he witnessed the signing of a Heads of Agreement.

Since then, there have been several visits to the island by Chinese delegations gathering technical and financial data to supplement the proposal, the last such visit taking place last month, when CAMCE’s Vice President, visited the island to conduct a technical study and meet with representatives of the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ).

At the meeting which was held at the Ministry’s Corporate Office, the Chinese delegation was led by the President of CAMCE Luo Yan and included representatives from the company’s local associates, CCC International, headed by President Antonio Hawkins.

In attendance at the meeting, were State Ministers, Dr. Fenton Ferguson and Richard Azan; Permanent Secretary, Dr. Alwin Hales; Director General, Genefa Hibbert ; Senior Director, Policy Planning and Evaluation, Elsa-May Binns; Principal Finance Officer, Altius Williams among others.