MONTEGO BAY, St James — Prime Minister Andrew Holness says there are at least seven new Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) projects in the pipeline, which should significantly expand the sector and create many new jobs.

Holness pointed out that he is integrally involved in the seven projects, which should come on stream this year into early next year.

“We will be breaking ground and starting construction. These projects may take a year or a year and a half to complete, but certainly we will see the manifestation of these projects within this year to mid-next year and those projects will drive employment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Holness is projecting that the industry can generate over 300,000 jobs.

“It’s not impossible, it’s not unimaginable that we could see more than 300,000 Jamaicans employed in the business process outsourcing sector. It’s not an impossibility,” the prime minister said.

He made the projection, Thursday, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of 63,000 square feet of purpose-built facilities by the Port Authority of Jamaica to increase BPO space by 10 per cent within the Montego Bay Free Zone, bringing the total space to 665,000 square feet.

According to Holness, Montego Bay currently accounts for approximately 11,000 of the more than 18,000 agents in the BPO sector.

“But what is intriguing to me is that you have the potential to do far more. In fact, you have the potential to double and triple your current employment. We are not going after jobless growth we are going after inclusive growth, meaning that the people from the country must benefit from the growth,” he said.

Holness pinned his confidence in realising some of the jobs in the sector to the seven upcoming projects.