INVESTORS in the downtown Kingston redevelopment project will receive a 50 per cent tax credit on their investments, Prime Minister P J Patterson announced Thursday.

“There is a $500-million budget for the entire project and investors will receive a 50 per cent tax credit… over a three-year period,” Patterson said during the launch of the Kingston City Centre Improvement Company (KCCIC) at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

Programmes and plans for the new company, said the prime minister, will be implemented over the next four to five years.

He said that the relocation of the Number Five bus terminus from Parade will be one of the priority projects of the KCCIC.

“You don’t see buses parked in Times or Trafalgar Square. Parade is too important an area to have buses parked up,” he said.

The colour coding of vending areas in downtown Kingston, a shuttle bus service for that section of the city, as well as the refurbishing of the St William Grant Park, are some of the other projects to be tackled by the new company.

The new company has been mandated to spearhead the transformation of the downtown area into a business improvement district.

Dr Vin Lawrence, the executive chairman of the Urban Development Corporation, will be heading the 12-member interim board of the KCCIC.

The other directors and their portfolios are:

* Maurice Facey — deputy chairman;

* Francis Kennedy, communications and public relations;

* Michael Ammar — administration;

* Deputy Commissioner of Police Jevene Bent — security;

* Aubyn Hill — finance; and

* Pauline Knight, housing and social services.

Non-portfolio directors are:

* Dunstan Whittingham, general secretary of the Jamaica Vendors Higglers and Market Association;

* Rev Dr Edmund Davis, chaplain of the KSAC;

* Patrick Staniger, architect;

* Errol Greene, town clerk at the KSAC; and

* Robert Stephens, project officer at the Port Authority.

“When an executive director is found, the present board will be dissolved and one consisting of five government and four private sector representatives will be formed,” Kennedy said.

So far, three local companies have invested approximately $37 million in KCCIC. “Grace Kennedy, NCB and Pan Jam are the first stakeholders of this new company, with the first two putting up $15 million each and Pan Jam $7 million, but we are now attempting to get more local and foreign investors from the private sectors and the bond markets after today’s launch,” Kennedy added.