Nearshore Americas
Portmore tech park

Jamaica Supporting BPO Growth with New Technology Park in Portmore

Jamaica is gearing up to build another technology park to house more facilities in the country’s ever-expanding BPO industry, this time in the Southern coastal city of Portmore.

The park will be jointly developed by the Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ) and China Harbour Engineering Company, according to a statement from the government.

The tech park will cover 34-acres of land, include 750,000 square feet of office space, and provide 20,000 jobs for local communities. The project is expected to be completed within the next two years.

It is not clear how much as been invested into the project as yet, but reports say the government will issue shares to finance its development.

Named Naggo Head Technology Park, the facility will be equipped with modern information and communications technologies. In addition to BPOs, the facility will also house what the government calls “an appropriate mix of industry and services for optimum functionality”.

The government says the development of the technology park “is in response to the growing demand” for BPO office space. Jamaica’s BPO industry accounted for 58% of new jobs generated in the last financial year.

However, the building of large campuses for BPO companies has stoked uproar in the past, with some local realtors criticizing the government in 2014, saying that real estate firms involved in the construction of tech parks would be saddled with debt and empty buildings if their tenants leave after five or six years.

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Such worries have somewhat subsided in the past couple of years, particularly after Kingston was named the Nearshore City of the Year following substantial growth in the number of call center companies.

Narayan Ammachchi

News Editor for Nearshore Americas, Narayan Ammachchi is a career journalist with a decade of experience in politics and international business. He works out of his base in the Indian Silicon City of Bangalore.

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