3,000 Jobs Provided Under JEEP

Approximately 3,000 jobs have already been created under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, Hon. Dr. Omar Davies, has revealed.

“They are in varied fields, such as construction, in terms of work being done through by the National Works Agency (NWA) to repair gullies. There are also some road work,  and jobs in education and agriculture,” Dr. Davies pointed  out on the Jamaica Information Service (JIS)  programme, ‘Issues and Answers’, last week.

“We have committed approximately the equivalent of US$10 million for this first phase, starting in March of the last fiscal year,” the Minister noted.

The JEEP was launched by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, on March 22, in Kingston. It is one of the strategies of the Government to respond to the chronic unemployment status of some Jamaicans, particularly those in the lower socio-economic strata, persons with special needs as well as those with low skills levels.

Dr. Davies said phase two of the project will commence after the budget is read (on May 24) in the House of Representatives.

“There will be some exciting new projects in this  fiscal year. We will have some work in low income housing and there is going to be a sense of renewal of the zinc removal project. So, it is going to be far more diversified in phase two of the project,” the Minister outlined.

Dr. Davies noted that jobs  will be created for both skilled and unskilled persons, and that  there will also be opportunities for entities to work in collaboration with the State.

“I wish to encourage as many entities, independent of Government, to submit proposals to the (JEEP) Secretariat,” he said.

By Chris Patterson, JIS Reporter