ROSE HALL, St James — Edmund Bartlett is urging individuals who have raised concerns about the extended time Government is taking to implement the long-awaited pension plan for tourism workers to be patient.
One such critic is former Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill, who had pointed out that the scheme, which was scheduled to start in January 2017, had missed four deadlines since. McNeill had stated that the pension plan is yet to be brought to Parliament.
However, Bartlett said his team is currently working to get the plan “right”.
“So this is an omnibus plan which will take into account all the connecting parts for tourism that has never happened before, and we have to get it right. And thank goodness, we have a good team headed by Daisy Coke, who is doing a magnificent job. [She is] perhaps the best actuary in the entire Caribbean. We have the benefit of her services and we are doing it right, and don’t rush us too much. Let us get it right and we will have it for you before long,” the tourism minister said.
He was addressing the Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Tourist Board’s inaugural Golden Tourism Day Awards for more than 50 veterans who have worked in the industry for over 50 years. The function was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on Sunday.
Efforts to create the pension plan started during Bartlett’s first stint as minister of tourism in the Bruce Golding-led Administration. The process to have it implemented was advanced under the previous Administration by former Tourism Minister, Dr McNeill, who took over from Bartlett in 2012.
However, during Bartlett’s address on Sunday, he pointed out that despite efforts in the past, they were not sufficient to allow the plan to see the light of day because of a range of difficulties that arose due to the type of policy to be implemented.
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