THE Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica (IMAJ) wants the Government to impose, by month-end, a minimum quota for local employment in mega projects by overseas contractors.

The association asserts that local labour and capital continues to be underutilised in these projects, especially those funded by the Chinese government. It results, according to IMAJ President Raymond Cooper, in underemployment for the sector and prevents technology transfer.

“We have been in discussions (with government) and we are moving towards formulating a percentage for local involvement. We have been agitating for this, particularly for the Chinese projects,” stated Cooper whose association is presently lobbying the ministries of transport, housing and labour.

Lobbying began unpublicised in last September and is expected to be completed this month, said Cooper.

“We are saying that when a portion of the work can be done locally it should be,” he told the Business Observer in an interview. “We also want to ensure that there is the transfer of technology in these projects.”

The construction sector, which is a key driver of the economy, continues to languish — data for the October to December 2009 quarter was down 3.5 per cent versus the year’s prior quarter. Total employment in the construction industry declined by five per cent to 119,300 persons up to July 2009 compared with July 2008, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica. This figure does not include the mining sector, which lost nearly 50 per cent of total employment from 10,000 to 5,400 persons, July 2009 over July 2008 due to the bauxite fall-out. One positive is that land and construction sector loans issued by commercial banks increased to $20.6 billion up to November 2009 versus $13.3 billion a year prior.

Recently announced projects include the US$65.4 million ($5.7 billion) in financing from the Chinese government to raise the Palisadoes Road in Kingston — the only access to the Norman Manley International Airport; the National Works Agency (NWA) will oversee the project with Asian-based China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) as contractor. Another project involves the construction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s new downtown head office costing some $450 million of which the Chinese government will fund $292 million.

The Chinese are the latest to invest heavily in Jamaica following a series of investments by the Spanish and French in the last decade, in a bid to revive the stagnant economy. But the latest data offer little promise for growth. “The Jamaican economy showed no sign of recovery during the October to December 2009 period,” stated the state run Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) in its quarterly release. The PIOJ stated that during the October to December 2009 period, real GDP declined by 2.5 per cent relative to the corresponding period last year.

Jamaica, it stated, was “hurt by the global recession with a fall-off in external demand for Jamaican goods and services, and a deterioration of the fiscal deficit”. It added that for the period under review, the goods-producing and services industries declined 7.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.