Government will spend $23.8 million this financial year, to make final payments under the Inner City Basic Services project. Details of this allocation are outlined in the 2014/15 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The initiative, which lasted from May 2006 to December 2013, was implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), with funding from the...

Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission (J-TEC), Maxine Henry-Wilson, is insisting that reform of the tertiary education system must include institutions taking into account the non-academic experience of applicants. Mrs. Henry-Wilson, who was the keynote speaker at the International University of the Caribbean (IUC) Research Day Conference 2014, held on Thursday, April 3, said currently,...

A sum of $15 million has been allocated in the 2014/15 Estimates of Expenditure for the Enhancing the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Regulatory Environment in Jamaica project. The proposed budget, which was tabled in the House of Representatives on April 3 by Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, will be reviewed by the Standing Finance Committee...

The Government will be seeking to promote private sector investment in the energy sector by updating the regulatory framework, preparing projects for investment decisions, and increasing the contribution of renewable energy in electricity. To this end $393.7 million has been allocated in the 2014/15 Estimates of Expenditure for the Energy Security and Efficiency Enhancement project. The proposed budget, which was...

The country’s business environment will be further strengthened, with the support of $40 million, which has been set aside in the 2014/15 budget, to enable large scale investments and capacity support for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector. The Jamaica Foundations for Competiveness and Growth project, being implemented by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), is geared at...

Persons most at risk for contracting HIV are being targeted under a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded programme. As outlined in the 2014/15 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, the HIV Prevalence in Most-at-Risk Population Reduced programme, which runs from October, 2009 to September, 2014, will this financial year receive $294.1 million. The objectives of...

An allocation of $177 million has been made in this year’s budget to complete the University of Technology’s (UTech) School of Hospitality and Tourism Management (SHTM). Now 85 per cent complete, work on the facility is among the various infrastructural improvements taking place at the university as part of the UTech Enhancement Project. Being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank...

As the country strives to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relating to the reduction of maternal and child mortality, a total of $102.9 million has been allotted to support this undertaking in the 2014/15 Estimates of Expenditure. This will be carried out under the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality (PROMAC) in Jamaica programme, which began in April, 2013...