KINGSTON, Jamaica — The government is currently in talks with Herzog, one of two companies that submitted unsolicited proposals of interest in 2013, regarding a public/private partnership to rescue Jamaica’s railway service.

Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry told the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the discussions were being facilitated by the Ministry of Transport and Mining and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

“It should be noted that the proposal does not require any government guarantees or direct support to rehabilitate, operate and maintain the rail service,” Henry pointed out.

He said that the rail service’s revitalization would be complemented with the Vernamfield Development Plan, which was conceptualized with the aim of expanding and strengthening Jamaica’s international aviation industry, in tandem with positioning the country as an international hub.

“The vision is for broad developments in aviation services and supporting logistics at Vernamfield, to take the pressure off the other existing international airports, which all lack the capacity to accommodate the physical network to handle the larger cargo aircraft, due to physical logistical limitations,” Henry said.

Balford Henry