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WESTERN BUREAU: Investment Minister Aubyn Hill has expressed confidence that the National Investment Policy (NIP), which is to be tabled in Parliament soon, will create a smooth path for prospective investors to do business in Jamaica and reduce corruption.

“The NIP … is designed to make sure we have a clear direction as to what we want to invest in. The sugar industry is gone, and banana as an industry is a different arrangement which is now much reduced. So we have to find new ways to make our economy grow, and clearly one of those ways is the SEZ (Special Economic Zones),” he told The Gleaner on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Invest Jamaica 2022 Business Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“There is a focus on making the zones agreeable and attractive to prospective investors. We have to make sure the Customs arrangements are there, and that the incentives that are in the 2016 act are enunciated and people know about them,” Hill said of the SEZ Act, which repealed the Jamaica Export Free Zones Act.

“If you are a master developer, for instance, you can negotiate a very long-term tax-free arrangement for all the rental income that you would get from that master development. We want to stress that the SEZ is an investment destination,” he added.

Source The Gleaner