$293 Million being Spent on JSIF’s Poverty Reduction Programme

The Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP) of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) approved expenditure of some $293 million on 29 projects across the island, since October 2001.
The projects, which are jointly funded by the Government and the European Union, span the gamut from the upgrade of facilities at basic and primary schools to facilitating sanitation and water supply construction in communities.
According to the JSIF’s annual report, which was presented at the company’s annual general meeting last week, communities from 13 parishes in the island, with the sole exception of Hanover, were beneficiaries of the PRP.
Of the 29 approved projects, the two accounting for the largest apportioned sum of money were located in Castleton, St. Mary and Bennettland in St. Andrew. The former saw a road rehabilitation project being undertaken on the Mount Charles to Luna feeder road in the parish at a cost of $34.68 million, while the latter was a sanitation upgrading project in Whitfield Town, which cost an estimated $34.5 million.
With six projects approved under the PRP, St. Andrew represented the parish where the most projects were carried out. Five of the projects utilised the JSIF’s methodology of community based contracting, whereby residents in a community identified for assistance, played an integral role in the implementation of the project by way of manual labour and management. The projects in St. Andrew included the construction of a bridge on the Brandon Hill to Bellair Road, the completion of the Bethel New Testament Basic School, and the expansion of the Gladys Sheriff Basic School.
Meanwhile, St. Mary accounted for four projects, the second highest number of approved projects. Portland and St. Catherine recorded the third highest number of approved projects, with three apiece and a budgetary allocation of $62.2 million among them.
Projects carried out in other parishes included the rehabilitation of the Falmouth Market at a cost of $25 million; the expansion and equipping of the Brae Head and Crooked River Skills Training Centre in Clarendon at a cost of $17 million; and the equipping and expansion of the Barracks Road Primary School at a cost of $10.8 million.