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Management of industrial estates to move from NICIL to Business Ministry by year end
As part of its 2016 to 2020 Strategic Plan, the Ministry of Business will be assuming the management
Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin
responsibility of the Belvedere, Eccles, Lethem and Coldingen industrial estates, currently managed by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), by the end of this year.
After the transfer of management is completed, a committee will be established, comprising representatives of the Ministry and the estates, so as to develop a management plan.
In doing this, the Ministry will have responsibility to promote, encourage and facilitate investments that diversify foreign earnings and develop value added sectors through improving the environment in which businesses operate.
The major activities conducted at these estates are wood processing, light manufacturing and engineering..
The Ministry in its 2016 to 2020 Strategic Plan Final Report highlighted that industrial estates typically are interesting for businesses as they provide an attractive location which will allow fast, inexpensive and reliable transportation to the nearest hub, and infrastructure services, such as sewage, reliable electricity and internet.
One of the major benefits of these estates is to reduce the cost of operation, since the services are shared. As such, the Ministry believes that management of the estates is a crucial factor to success.
According to the report, for an annual rent of $1 per square foot, a service charge and an initial cost of 25 per cent of its development cost, an investor can lease a plot from the government at the Coldingen and Eccles estates; they alone provide 102 plots on 90 acres of land.
The estates have since remained underutilized. Based on the information presented in the strategic plan, businesses have leased and never used a plot or started operations, but then discontinued for reasons unknown.
In order to enhance effectiveness, a needs assessment of the estates will be done as a tool of industrial development and to guide the development of a management plan.
In February last, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin had said that after developing and fixing the Lethem estate, it will accommodate at least 100 businesses, while at Belvedere, Region Six, there will be space for 20 businesses.
He had said that when all the rehabilitation works were completed on the estates, management will become a priority under his Ministry, so that they can be sustained over a long period.
Two of the issues to be looked at are the terms and conditions of leases for these estates, and the transparent regularization of the use of the properties for future allocations of space. It is expected that 1500 jobs will be created on the estates by year end.
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