JAMAICANS are strong on talk, but very weak on planning and preparation.

So we shouldn’t be surprised if many among us dismiss Jamaica’s National Development Plan — Vision 2030 — as no more than an opportunity for another talk shop.

If we are to get even close to the goal of ‘developed nation status’ by 2030, it is imperative as Prime Minister Bruce Golding has pointed out that the mass of the populace embrace the national plan.

To quote Mr Golding: “This plan is only going to be worthwhile (if) all of us take ownership of it and be vigilant in making sure that it succeeds.”

He was speaking at the launch in Montego Bay last Friday of an 88-page booklet described as the ‘popular version’ of the national plan which is expected to be more “appealing” and comprehensible for the man on the street.

Readers may recall that the original, far more lengthy and technical version of the plan — which has as its mission statement the making of Jamaica as ‘the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business’ — was published and launched last year.

Copies of the ‘popular version’ are being made available for distribution islandwide. We are told that distribution points will include organisations such as the Social Development Commission, community associations and the Ministry of Education.

We trust that the list of distribution/disseminating organisations will also include the Christian Church and the political parties. This newspaper has consistently argued that the churches and the two major political parties command an unmatched capacity to mobilise the populace as well as influence opinion.

Development plans of one sort or another are not new in Jamaica. But as the former Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, Dr Wesley Hughes pointed out in the Foreword of the original Vision 2030 document, previous plans were “perceived as being owned only by the Government of the day”.

We are pleased to see that the current one has earned bi-partisan support and broad consensus across the society, despite the fact that it was initiated by the government of the People’s National Party (PNP) which is now in Opposition and completed during the stewardship of the current Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government.

In the view of this newspaper, the Vision 2030 plan presents an unparalleled opportunity for national focus: a chance for achievable goals to be seamlessly pursued by all, regardless of differences.

And as Mr Golding has said, it has the potential to reduce the long-standing tendency of the society to simply “lurch” from one crisis to the next.

Given all the circumstances, this newspaper and all other media organisations, we believe, have a responsibility to do all in our power to explain Vision 2030 to the populace.

Crucially, the message must be creatively imparted that a proper plan embracing all environmental and other ‘due diligencies’ has to be part and parcel of any physical development. We shouldn’t underestimate the impact over time, of such developmental information on reducing the incidence of flooding, for example.

We all had better recognise that if the Vision 2030 plan fails it will be to the detriment of all of us.

Indeed, it is said: “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”