Dear Editor,

Over the years, Lisa Hanna has shared interesting thoughts on economic development and social issues in columns in the Jamaica Observer and on social media.

I’ve agreed with some, she is a visionary and she clearly thinks outside the box; however, I believe sometimes Hanna goes over the top without consideration of the country’s limited resources and priorities. Her recent column, ‘The billion-dollar gold mine we’re ignoring’, published on Sunday, March 16 about the underinvestment in Jamaica’s creative industry is not a new topic. In the column she calls for massive investment in the creative industry and quoted US$60 million as an amount which could build world-class facilities in Jamaica to support film, music, and the arts and create employment with tremendous benefits to the economy. Investors, she suggests, could be a combination of Government, foreign investors, and the stock market. Its “a billion-dollar gold mine we are ignoring”, Hanna says, as she boasts about Jamaica being a global power house with creative dominance.

No one would disagree that our potential in the creatives is largely untapped. Many have done very well despite the odds, mostly from their own sacrifices and hard work, with some help locally. If it were so simple to create these world-class facilities, it would’ve been done already, perhaps during Hanna’s tenure as minister of youth and culture.

There must be a reason the Caribbean is lacking in these facilities — how about massive costs, including maintenance. Of course, we shouldn’t limit our possibilities, but at the same time, solutions must be practical. We live in a country where as much as 80 per cent of people don’t have health insurance due to affordability, and our health care is in a dire state. Our education system is broken and many youth with opportunities fall through the cracks, turning to drugs and crime. The social issues are many and the vulnerable are in need. How can we fund a US$60-million investment in state-of-the-art creative facilities before first ensuring that the minimum basic needs of our people are supported? Has Hanna noticed the extremely slow pace and struggle to restore the historic Ward Theatre, a creative facility?

Hanna has often called for bold action from both Government and private sector on initiatives, but it is not that simple bringing them together. She is well aware that these sectors have different goals, objectives, interests, expectations, and different work ethics. Calling for a major joint investment is a long shot, and it is even more challenging trying to attract foreign investors, who are usually more cautious.

It is easy to quote statistics, but we cannot plan based on statistics alone, context matters as well as priorities. No one is going to invest in anything big or small without thoroughly assessing the viability and risks of the project, considering the environment and, of course, a rate of return to justify the risk.

We can put forward as many ideas to make Jamaica a better place to live, work, and play, but solutions must be practical, realistic, and feasible. Also, the last thing we want is to build infrastructure and have it sitting idle and unused. Everything has a cost, quantitative and qualitative, and the opportunity costs are also very real.

P Chin

chin_p@yahoo.com