THE CAYMANAS special enterprise zone, home to the next "great economic space for Jamaican enterprise" will in the next three to five years create approximately 10,000 new jobs at an estimated cost of $200 billion.

This project, according to Investment, Industry and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda, would be sited on 1,000 acres of prime real estate in Ferry, St Catherine.

Samuda reported that his ministry was working with the ministries of Transport and Works and Agriculture, the Urban Development Corporation and the Port Authority of Jamaica to complete an impact assessment and other studies on the provision of potable water and traffic impact.

In his contribution to the 2009/2010 Budget Debate last week, Samuda said the Tinson Pen airstrip would be relocated near the complex.

"The project entails the build-out of units that will service the ICT industry, the services industry and provide warehousing and light manufacturing, such as agro-processing."

Samuda told parliamentarians that the Government had been in discussions with overseas partners and was also seeking to attract local investors.

The minister said the venture would be a joint one between public and private sectors and the Government would "provide, not sell, the land and focus on infrastructural development".

At present, a "conceptual" master plan has been completed and a memorandum of understanding drafted to be signed with investors.

The World Bank is to provide funding to complete the feasibility study.