KINGSTON, Jamaica — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says his ministry has set a January 2019 target to roll out new policy arrangements, which will lead to the resumption of jet-ski activities in the island.

“I believe that we are now at a point where we can make a cabinet submission in relation to a policy for the water-sport industry in Jamaica,” Bartlett said at a Jet Ski Task force meeting held recently at the Ministry of Tourism’s New Kingston Office.

“We are in a position now where we can look at the necessary infrastructure and how we can resource these infrastructure requirements to enable the proper execution of the policy,” Bartlett said.

The Tourism ministry in a release this evening said that the tabled document will address and provide a framework for the management of all water sports in Jamaica and facilitate the lift of an islandwide ban on all commercial personal water crafts (PWCs) operations on the island.

Once tabled, the ministry said it will then engage stakeholders with further consultations, so that this policy can become a White Paper.

“We are committed to working with small players in the industry, to determine launch sites, which we are looking to have in Ocho Rios and Negril. We started, but did not get very far because of commercial activities, which intervened, but we are continuing the process. We will do this within the next three months, so that all stakeholders will have equal access and enable us to manage and monitor the process in a better way,” said Bartlett

The measures were applied in the wake of a number of accidents involving PWCs across the island, some resulting in fatalities, serious injuries, and damage to vessels.