PLANS TO revitalise the Spanish Town-to-Kingston leg of the nation's railway system are likely to cost taxpayers more if the China CAMC Engineering Company Ltd., being scouted to revive the system, attempts to improve the carriage beyond the capacity which existed before the Jamaica Railway Corporation became defunct several years ago.
This is as a result of a clause in the concession agreement signed in November 2001 between the government and developers of Highway 2000, French company Bouygues Travaux Publics. It stipulates that "the developer (Bouygues) shall be entitled to a payment of, or an adjustment to, the compensation amount to reflect any reduction in traffic levels that arise solely from the carrying out of works by or on behalf of the government of Jamaica which:
Enhances the speed or capacity of competing roads within the transport corridor served by the Toll Road."According to the agreement, the only way to avoid the levy is if "the refurbishment of the existing single track passenger rail link between Kingston, Spanish Town and Williamsfield, and Spanish Town and Ewarton is refurbished only to the level it was operating before the closure of the rail link for the carriage of passengers."
FEASIBILITY STUDY
The Ministry of Transport and Works, through its public relations department, stated last week that it could not comment on the situation as nothing had been finalised with CAMC. "They are only coming to do a feasibility study," said Leo McEwan, public relations officer in the ministry.
A little more than a week ago, after the launch of the China-Caribbean Trade Fair at the National Arena, Robert Pickersgill, minister of transport, and Ren Hongbin, chairman of the China National Machinery and Equipment Corp. which oversees CAMC, signed a memorandum of understanding "to undertake the necessary study with a view to committing a Chinese company to revitalise the railway system."
THE MOU calls for a "rehabilitation/construction of the rail system in Jamaica and shall include adequate types and numbers of passenger coaches, cargo wagons and locomotives."
"So far, we have not seen the site as yet but in the next two or three weeks after our spring festival, we are going to be sending our technical team to Jamaica," Wang Yuhang, vice-president of China CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd. said. He also explained that his company's interest in the project was "not a matter of 'if ' we are going to do it but 'how'."
There have been several initiatives aimed at restarting a railway system in Jamaica but without success. In 1999, a serious attempt was made when Jamaica's government and the Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture. The agreement then was for the government of India to own 30 per cent of the entity, the Jamaican government 40 per cent, and the remaining 30 per cent would be owned by Jamaican companies.
