HEAD of the Mona School of Business and Management, Professor Densil Williams says Jamaica has the foundation for driving high levels of economic growth, pointing to more than US$4.2 billion in major projects to be implemented.

These growth-inducement projects include renewable energy initiatives by Alpart and Jamaica Public Service, integrated resort development of 2,000 hotel rooms, agro parks, infrastructural developments and the logistic hub activities.

Speaking recently at the inaugural Victoria Mutual Economic Forum, Professor Williams estimated that the projected expenditure on these major projects will induce more than a four-fold economic impact of US$17.7 billion. However, he argued that the successful implementation of these projects required effective leadership and management by public and private sector institutional partners.

Addressing the topic ‘Strategies for Growth: Opportunities in the Jamaican Business Environment’, Professor Williams recommended a “greater integration of the logistic hub project into the wider clusters of the Jamaican economy” in the long term, rather than creating an industrial enclave.

In addition, he pointed to the critical need for the improvement in productivity, the reform of the educational system and workforce practices, as well as improvement in law and order and social balance.

The business professor suggested short-and medium-term growth strategies including commencement of dredging of the harbour at the now privatised Kingston Container Terminal, identifying projects in the creative industries and agro processing, and using National Housing Trust resources to build more homes, especially for middle-income earners.

Professor Williams was one of several presenters at the Victoria Mutual Economic Forum which explored the interdependence between financial independence of the individual and economic independence of the nation.

According to Richard Powell, President and CEO of Victoria Mutual Group, the hosting of the forum by the longest-serving indigenous financial institution in Jamaica was in an effort to help promote a culture of long-term planning both on the individual and national level.