JEEP Providing Employment While Improving Critical Infrastructure

The Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) has been fulfilling its mandate of providing employment for Jamaicans while improving the infrastructure and social amenities of the country.

Project Manager at JEEP, Carolyn Gardner, said the programme, implemented in March 2012, has undertaken the rehabilitation of roadways, bridges, drains and gullies across the island, and upgrading of several community facilities and sanitary conveniences at primary schools.

She informed that JEEP has collaborated with Food for the Poor to construct housing units, while facilitating on-the-job training in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Mrs. Gardner was speaking during a recent tour of JEEP projects in East Central St. James by State Minister for Transport, Works and Housing, Hon. Richard Azan.

She informed that over 57,000 people have been employed under JEEP since its inception.

“We are really seeking to work this financial year to increase those numbers and to certainly solidify the partnership that we have developed over the past years with agencies such as the National Works Agency (NWA) and Members of Parliament,” she noted.

Mrs. Gardner said in all its projects, JEEP has ensured that the work done is of the highest quality.

“One of the things that we have been emphasising through the Secretariat is that we must have good quality roads, because in the end, we certainly want the longevity to be there and for the communities to be able to benefit in years to come,” she stated.

JEEP was conceptualised to provide short-term employment, particularly for persons at the lower socio-economic level. It is not intended to be a permanent fix to the country’s unemployment challenge.

The programme is a national one and was officially launched by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, on March 22, 2012.