MONTEGO BAY, St James – Prime Minister Andrew Holness is encouraging youngsters involved in “chopping” to make use of the legitimate employment options stemming from the US$274.5-million Montego Bay perimeter road project for which he broke ground on Saturday.

Chopping’ or ‘chop the line’ are terms commonly referring to the activities of players involved in lottery scamming, which is blamed for a large number of homicides across St James.

The prime minister noted that one component of the multimillion-dollar perimeter road project, to be undertaken by China Harbour under the supervision of the National Road Operating and Construction Company Limited (NROCC), is the training and certification of workers.

“And so we have to now have deliberate programmes of engaging them [youth] and saying to them, hey bossman instead of chopping come and work here. So do something that is going to elevate you and not see you to your grave before time. We have to do that, in this city in Montego Bay, all of you listening know that what I am saying is true,” the prime minister said during the ground-breaking ceremony in Ironshore, St James.

“I am appealing to all of you who are here, encourage the young people, go to those who you come into contact with. There is opportunity for work and there will be many opportunities in this programme.”

Holness argued that Government will be providing over US$340 million to be spent between the perimeter road project and the expansion of the Sangster International Airport, also in Montego Bay; both of which, he said, will be accompanied by numerous employment opportunities.

“This [perimeter road] is not a small project, US$274 million is significant; but if you add the US$70 million that we are spending on the expansion of the Sangster International Airport, you will see that we are putting in some serious money in infrastructure in the western area. That money will go to create employment,” he noted.

“The same people who are frustrated, who are saying we can’t afford, we don’t have, Government needs to do more, this is one way in which the Government will be channeling resources to you through employment,” he further noted.

He highlighted that in addition to spending a large sum of money in a variety of social safety net programmes to cushion the hardships resulting from the novel coronavirus pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine, Government is also creating job opportunities for young people.

Holness noted that apart from the memorandum of understanding signed between China Harbour and HEART/ NSTA for the training and certification of the workers on the perimeter road project, there is also an agreement in place that 90 per cent of locals should be employed.

“There is a training component that is not that they will be supervised and that’s it, they will be certified. So after this project they can move on to another one. They can go to one of the eight hotel projects that are lined up along this [north] coast,” the prime minister said.

The 14.9-kilometre national development project is a collaboration between the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).

The perimeter road is expected to provide motorists with an alternate route around Montego Bay and ease vehicular traffic congestion in that resort city.

The project also includes the rehabilitation of Barnett Street and West Green Avenue, a 10.5-kilometre Long Hill bypass road and a comprehensive drainage study of Montego Bay.