Burrell calls on Chinese firm to develop football infrastructure

ASSOCIATE sponsor China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has upped its investment in the nation’s top league with a $25 million injection, it was announced yesterday.

Of that total, there will be a direct payout of $23 million to organisers of the competition the Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), with another $2 million going towards promotional activities and special incentives for coaches and players.Reacting to the announcement and commitment to football by the Chinese firm, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Captain Horace Burrell, urged them further to look at considering investing in field development of clubs.“If your company (China Harbour) has decided to give each of the football clubs a proper football field, believe me, in years to come, you would be recognised and remembered as the company that changed the quality and standard of football in this country,” Burrell said at the launch of Red Stripe Premier League at the PLCA’s offices in New Kingston yesterday.“I challenge you, China Harbour, please,” said Burrell as he pleaded with a smiling CHEC deputy regional manager, Xiao Yan Ming, who was seated in the audience.The new season kicks off on September 15.As he pressed home his point for the need for total development of the game and the role of corporate Jamaica in this thrust, Burrell warned that the game is bound to stagnate if there isn’t an inclusive approach to growing it.“In reality, we must have additional sponsors if our league is to move forward. We must have better playing facilities, better organisation of clubs, so we have some way to go,” Burrell noted.CHEC’s communication manager, Jennifer Armond, said her company was pleased with its association with the league last season, therefore it was not difficult to re-commit.“The company enjoyed participating in the Premier League as sponsor last season and became aware that it would only be through continued commitment that sport would be able to reap significant results from our initial interest,” said Armond.Supreme Ventures Limited’s senior marketing officer, Andrei Roper, also announced his organisation’s commitment worth $10m through its brand, JustBet.Also, JUTC’s yesterday made it public its decision to continue its partnership with the league.Meanwhile, PLCA chairman Edward Seaga, made note of a change in league format and likened it to the changing formats in cricket that have resuscitated that sport in terms of spectatorship.“There have been many changes in many sports. Cricket moved from five days to one day and now to two-and-a-half hours and that was unveiled in the Limacol competition and the crowd loved it,” noted Seaga.“They loved the excitement in shorter time which gives the players impetus not to sit at the wicket but to give them the joy of seeing the ball rising over the boundaries,” said the former Prime Minister of Jamaica.“Football has had the problem of diminishing crowds depending on the teams, but it has been a long time since we see a really packed stadium.“At the clubs, spectatorship has not been what we wanted it to be except on Monday night because the innovation of the (title) sponsors Red Stripe, and that is one innovation that has helped us to grow more crowd,” added Seaga.“This year we have to undertake more changes. I am not in a position to give you the details at this time because the JFF is to consider the proposals we are making,” he added.It is expected that the league format with 38 games, introduced for the 2007/08 season, will be discarded. For this season, the 12 teams will play three rounds of 33 matches in the preliminary phases, after which the top-eight will then advance to the quarter-final stage in a home-and-away series. It is expected that this phase will see the number-one ranked team facing the number eight-ranked team; the number two vs number seven; number three vs number six; and number four vs number five.The four winners will then advance to the semi-finals, also on a home and away basis, with the two winners from that stage qualifying for the final.The two teams at the bottom of the table at the end of the third round will be relegated.A draw to decide the first set of games to kick off the season was done at yesterday’s press launch which pits defending champion Harbour View away to Sporting Central Academy, while runners-up Waterhouse host Boys’ Town in the marquee match-up on September 15.In the other games, Portmore United travel to Cavalier, Humble Lion play Arnett Gardens, promoted teams August Town and Rivoli United clash and Tivoli Gardens tackle Montego Bay United.China Harbour Engineering Company deputy regional manager, Xiao Yan Ming (left), presents the symbolic cheque of $23m to PLCA chairman Edward Seaga (centre) and JFF president Captain Horace Burrell at the launch of the new season in New Kingston yesterday. (PHOTO: MICHAEL GORDON).

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Burrell calls on Chinese firm to develop football infrastructure

Seabed authority laments poor infrastructure

THE International Seabed Authority (ISA), the only United Nations Secretariat to be sited in a developing country, is less than pleased with the state of the headquarters, located on the same premises as the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

In the secretary-general’s report circulated during yesterday’s Assembly, the authority referenced “the age and poor condition of the air-conditioning units, elevators and windows of the headquarters building”, “flooding and poor lighting” of its parking garage, and “persistent problems with the audio systems used for interpreting” at the Jamaica Conference Centre.The ISA is meeting in Kingston for its 19th annual session.The issues were itemised under section V of the report, titled Relations with the host Government. There, too, the ISA spoke of the failure of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) to produce renovation projects, which the local agency said was the reason for increasing annual parking fees charged to the Authority.“In 2012, the proprietors of the parking garage attached to the headquarters building, the Urban Development Corporation, unexpectedly increased the annual fee charged to the Authority by 103 per cent, ostensibly because of planned renovation projects.“To date, no renovation has been undertaken, and poor lighting and the flooding of the garage during heavy rains continue to be a major safety and security concern for the Authority and its staff,” the ISA said.The UDC acknowledged receipt of the Jamaica Observer’s e-mail seeking comments and further information on the matter yesterday, but no answers were forthcoming up to late evening.On the subject of elevators and air conditioning system, the Authority conceded that between August 2011 and March 2012, the Government of Jamaica, in line with its agreed responsibilities, undertook some repairs.“[That] went some way in ameliorating some of the most serious defects,” the report said.“However, the long-standing problems relating to the inconsistent water supply and the poor performance of the air-conditioning units of the headquarters building remained unresolved as at May 2013.”Aside from the exterior, the ISA says it is disappointed with the layout and decor of the interior, for which it has responsibility.“The secretariat offices were last refurbished in 1999 and are now in a very poor state of decoration and repair,” it said, adding that things were in this state because of “budgetary constraints” for the “current biennium”.The Authority also has issues with the equipment at the conference centre, which it rents for the staging of its annual meetings.“Over the past several years, the meetings of the Authority have been adversely affected by persistent problems with the audio systems used for interpretation. The problems were especially disruptive during the 18th session and the meeting of the Legal and Technical Commission in February 2013,” the secretary- general’s report said.Asked how it responded to the claims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which represents Jamaica at the ISA, declined to comment. It also declined answering how much was spent on the upgrades between 2011 and 2012, whether additional upgrading works were planned and the timeline for such, and the amount of dues the country pays to the Authority.The ISA seems to blame the situation on what it describes as a lack of a formal mechanism for the discussion of issues concerning the relationship between the host country and the Authority. As an example, it pointed to the UN Committee on Relations with the Host Country, which was established by a resolution of the General Assembly.The ISA has 164 member States, plus the European Union, and has an administrative budget of US$14 million for the 2013/2014 financial period.The premises of the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on which the International Seabed Authority is located. (OBSERVER FILE PHOTO)

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Seabed authority laments poor infrastructure

"Infrastructure projects should seek value for money"

NASSAU, Bahamas – PUBLIC-private partnerships (PPPs) mean governments will have one less infrastructure project on their balance sheets.

But the main deciding factor for such projects should be the possibility of value for money rather than just fiscal prudence, according to Perry Christie.“I must stress that such a consideration (private sector’s financial responsibility) should not be the main driver for the initiation of any PPP project which, I believe, must first and foremost be driven by an efficiency objective,” said the Bahamian prime minister at CIBC First Caribbean’s infrastructure conference, which was held at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas last week.“The main reason that government would contemplate such arrangements is that they offer the possibility of an improvement in value-for-money for the government,” he said. “This is achieved through the transfer of risks to the private sector where it is best placed to assess and handle those risks.”Furthermore, private sector involvement in building roads, bridges, airports and other structures should lead to both better quality services and lower cost services.One of the Bahamas ports is owned in part by the Government, a private company, Arawak Cay Port Development Holdings, and citizens. Private interests also manage the Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau.According to Christie, the government is looking at leasing public building infrastructure and office complexes.Bahamas is also open to possible partnerships in health, schools, water and electricity production and distribution, he said.Indeed, PPPs warrant regulatory framework, which sets out policies to guide the delivery of services.Christie noted that Bahamas is presently in the process of expounding the policies and procedures in respect of the development and implementation of future PPPs.The leader of the archipelagic state also said that a sound regulatory framework, possibly enshrined in the legislation, ensures accountability of the government and private sector partners by strengthening bid processes and limiting contract re-negotiations.It’s still early days yet for countries to decide if and how to etch the guidelines in their constitutions.Jamaica’s PPP activity up to now has been executed outside of a comprehensive policy framework and procedural guidelines.One government official of Barbados, Minister Darcy Boyce, figures that a legislative approach may not be flexible for the southern island. He holds a preference for a strong policy framework.“I don’t know that we have to do any special legislation,” said the minister in the Office of the Prime Minister in Barbados. “PPPs are driven by contractual arrangements between various parties and our contract law is sufficiently robust to deal with the issue. There are some people who think that it is good to have legislation.”

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"Infrastructure projects should seek value for money"