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70 71 requirements of projects that our customers have and to have a real partnership with them on their projects.” “We’re constantly seeking ways to improve our operations so we can better serve the needs of our customers,”Brown adds.“At JamaicaAggregates,we opened ourAgualtaVale plant at St.MaryParish on the north coast of the island in the fourth quarter of last year,so,in terms of capacitywe’re serv- ing awider swath of the Jamaicanmarket,today.We did that sowe could more efficiently serve our customers with their construction projects on the north coast.In Jamaica,a significant portion of Gross Domes- ticProduct is related to tourism,the vast majorityof which is on the north coast.So,you have a lot of construction needs in that area, which JamaicanAggregates is nowwell-positioned,and Jamaica Pre- mixhas beenwell-positioned,to serve.” Valentine reports that there was an upsurge of tourism-relat- ed construction between 2004 and 2007, but as a result of the Great Recession, activity slowed down considerably for several years.“The market is just starting to come back now,”he asserts. “A lot of projects that started work were put on hold, but the gen- eral assumption is that there has been steady growth in construc- tion in Jamaica since 2014,’15,’16, and ’17, and we anticipate this JAMAICA PRE-MIX & JAMAICA AGGREGATES PREFERRED VENDORS n BDO bdo.com.jm n A&ATyre & Vulcanizing Co. aatyre1@gmail.com n Hose Assembly & Supply Ltd. www.hasjamaica.com trend to continue for a fewmore years. We’re trying our best to expand, as need- ed, to meet the projected demand.” “There’s a real need in Jamaica for im- proved construction,” says Brown.“This is true for homes, apartments, roads, bridg- es, ports, and so forth.This is especially relevant, given the nature of the weather that we frequently face in Jamaica like hurricanes.Our buildings need to be strong; our building codes need to be robust. Concrete is a building material that is sustainable and well-adapted to the needs of the Jamaican marketplace. Together,we always strive to deliver val- ue to our customers and their construc- tion projects by producing and supplying quality sand and gravel, and quality con- crete, and I don’t expect that to change in the future, regardless of what changes take place in the marketplace.”