Montague tackles youth unemployment *says lands in Boscobel could be used for economic free zone

Opposition Senator Robert Montague has tabled a motion in parliament's upper chamber aimed at getting the Government to establish an economic free zone on lands surrounding the Ian Flemming International Airport in Boscobel, St Mary, as part of a strategy to drive down youth unemployment in the parish.

Montague, who is seeking to be elected member of Parliament for West St Mary, - the area where the airport falls - said the free zone could host call centres, light manufacturing, a technology park, an entertainment and music production facility, a film production studio, and any other suitable industry.

He said that the free zone could be constructed on lands that are both private and publicly owned.

However, Member of Parliament, Jolyan Silvera, the man who unseated Montague after only one term in 2011, said that the senator's suggestion was not practical given the current realities.

"All of us have grandiose ideas, but when you match that with the realities that exist on the ground, it cannot happen. I don't see any land available, except for a particular track of private land," Silvera told THE WEEKEND STAR recently.

The MP noted that the airport has been underutilised and that if it is to accommodate certain jets, it has to be expanded.

There are plans to purchase lands close to the airport to extend the runway over the roadway to one end of the property.

The runway is said to be some 2,000 feet short and is now unable to land larger jets.

"If you are going to expand it, you are going to have to acquire the lands along the same side of the airport," Silvera said.

He said, too, that the private lands nearby were slated for development.

Montague, meanwhile, wants the Senate to recommend that the government immediately begin an integrated development plan to assess the feasibility of the proposal.

election contest

Montague is slated to contest West St Mary for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the next general election, while Silvera is the People's National Party (PNP) standard-bearer. The seat is one of several marginal seats on the island, with Silvera getting to parliament in 2012 by a margin of 227 votes.

Montague's motion is yet to be debated.

Meanwhile, parliamentarians have taken a break from legislative duties with all 84 of them (63 MPs and 21 senators) now on Christmas holiday.

"It is a well deserved break," Phillip Paulwell, the Leader of government Business in the House of Representatives, said.

He told fellow legislators that some 43 bills were passed in the House of Representatives during the legislative year.

Paulwell also said that 28 orders and resolutions had been approved; 37 ministerial statements were given; and 27 sets of questions, which were posed by the opposition, had been answered.

Paulwell said that the MPs went about its business with

diligence.

"I must say that it is a well-deserved break. Every single member of this honourable house can take pride that the work of Parliament has progressed steadily over the year," Paulwell said.

Derrick Smith, the leader of opposition business, said that there were many matters on the Order Paper that had been lingering for a long time.

He pointed out that 34 private members motions, eight of which went back to 2013 and nine to 2014, were not considered.