Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, is encouraging members of the private sector to partner with the Government for the construction of office space, especially in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.

“We see a number of investors coming to Jamaica to say, ‘they want to now shift location and Jamaica is the best place’…our problem continues to be not telecommunications…we just don’t have the space…we need to get plug and play facilities and this is the reason why we are urging the Jamaican private sector (to partner with the Government),” he said.

Minister Paulwell was speaking during a recent interview on the Jamaica Information Service’s (JIS) ‘Issues and Answers’ programme with Ian Boyne.

He noted that the island’s telecommunication sector “is on par with anywhere else in the world”.

Mr. Paulwell informed that the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) will be constructing approximately 200,000 square feet of office space to meet some of the future demands.

“Every company in Montego Bay will tell you today that they want to expand and they are just not able to do so because of lack of space. So here is an opportunity for us to get this area moving to create thousands of jobs, but we need to get our private sector to participate in the construction of office space,” he stated.