The St Catherine Chamber of Commerce is to renew its administrative structure in 2017 making it more relevant to the delivery of services to the business community in the parish.

 

President of the chamber, Dennis Robotham said his organisation could do a lot more to enhance the business environment but admitted that a collective effort was needed on the part of its members.

 

"Come the first quarter of the new year I will be rolling out a different way in how we meet the needs of our members and encouraged future investments in St Catherine, Spanish Town, in particular," Robotham told The Gleaner.

 

"I am referring to a fulsome approach where we put in place the administrative structure comprising various committees dealing with different disciplines to galvanise the entire St Catherine business community," he further revealed.

 

Pointing to the vast potential for growth and investments in the parish, Robotham said he has already started preliminary work to ensure that business interests in the parish can be a part of this initiative.

 

"I have started a series of meetings with the growing Chinese business community to get them on board," he added.

 

"Chinese nationals are showing more interest in establishing businesses in the parish," he said. According to Robotham the Chinese see viable opportunities while locals are reluctant to establish new businesses.

 

Commenting on crime, he said this problem continues to negatively impact St Catherine and its capital Spanish Town. He urged every citizen to play his part in the fight against this monster.

 

"If we could bell this cat we would be well on our way. The chamber is of the view that more thorough undercover work by the police will eventually break the back of crime," he noted.

 

Turning to tourism, Robotham said, Spanish Town is already involved in the promotion of heritage tourism, with the creation of a secretariat and a manager in place to guide the process.

 

"There is no doubt that we are ready especially for visits from cruise ship passengers when they come to Kingston," he informed, pointing out that the recent call by a cruise in Kingston led to a number of buses with passengers coming to Spanish Town to see its rich history.

 

He said the process of getting full accreditation from the relevant tourism agencies to make Spanish Town a complete tourism destination is well under way.

 

Robotham blamed successive administrations for neglecting Spanish Town over the years, while revealing that he has been told by the Prime Minister that emphasis would be placed on St Catherine in the coming year.