Gov’t putting together land bank for investors

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Potential investors in Jamaica’s real estate sector will soon have an easier time identifying opportunities through a soon-to-be-developed land bank.

Vice-president in charge of research, advocacy and project implementation at Jampro, Shullette Cox briefly spoke about the initiative during her presentation at the Invest Jamaica 2022 Business Conference on Tuesday.

She was making a presentation on ‘Investment Opportunities in Jamaica’ and cited it as an example of ongoing efforts to facilitate investment in the country.

“We’re pulling together a government land bank so that when government agencies are approached by investors for land, they might not have it but another agency might, and we can find that information,” she said.

She added that the project, which is in the early stages of development, is part of the National Investment Policy of Jamaica (NIP).

“Earlier this year our Cabinet approved a National Investment Policy which has now been submitted to Parliament, hopefully for tabling before the end of this year. And just to give you a snapshot of what our National Investment Policy looks like, we have pulled together practical policy changes that will make it easier to do business in Jamaica,” said Cox.

She added that the NIP will also include an incentive for investors to become residents of Jamaica.

“We have a programme to facilitate economic residency — not citizenship by investment but economic residency based on firm, foreign direct investments that are underpinned by job creation,” she explained.

These and other developments, she noted, are part of efforts to make Jamaica as attractive as possible for investors.

“We have an open and transparent investment regime; we have no foreign exchange controls, no limitations on foreign ownership — including land — and no restrictions on the repatriation of profits,” said Cox.

Source: Jamaica Observer