Kingsley Thomas, the outstanding public service executive who gave Jamaica Highway 2000, was once reported as saying that when the project was first announced, it was described as a highway in the sky.

“That project is now firmly on the ground, poised to make a significant contribution to Jamaica,” he said in 2007, in an address to the Management Institute for National Development’s 14th annual public lecture held at Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

Thomas was chairman of National Road Operating and Construction Company at the time work started on the highway. He has served Jamaica as president of the National Water Commission, head of the Development Bank of Jamaica, the National Housing Trust, and National Hotels and Properties where he managed the divestment of large State-owned properties which, at the time, reportedly had a combined value of US$100 million.

In addition to Highway 2000, Thomas was the driving force behind some of the Jamaica’s most notable projects, including Emancipation Park and the proposed Harmony Cove Resort in Duncans, Trelawny.

In 2002, he was invested with the Order of Jamaica in recognition of his contribution to national development.

Five years later, he was conferred with the Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Technology, Jamaica.

On December 1, 2013, Thomas and Dr Carlton Davis were honoured by the Jamaica Observer during the newspaper’s annual Business Leader Award for their outstanding contribution to the public sector.