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Implementation of the Education System Transformation Programme (ESTP) will continue this fiscal year, with an $881.21 million boost. The money has been set aside in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The programme seeks to provide support to the Ministry of Education’s policy to expand compulsory education from age 16 to 18 by providing approximately...

A sum of $5.2 million has been allocated to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) to undertake capacity building activities. This is contained in the 2013/2014 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The Strategic Statistical Development Project seeks to strengthen the institutional capacity of STATIN and national statistical system, by providing financial and technical input to adopt...

Phase One of a pilot project, aimed at integrating climate resilience in the national policy-making process, should be completed by June 2013. Some $7 million has been set aside in the 2013/2014 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, for the conclusion of studies on the development of Jamaica’s Strategic Programme for Climate Resilience (SPCR) and conduct financial...

The Government has allocated some $121 million to boost activities under the Cadastral Mapping and Land Registration project. This is outlined in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The programme seeks to assist persons, particularly rural residents currently occupying lands but not in possession of titles for those properties, to formalise their holdings by providing...

Activities under the Water Sector Policy and Rural Master Plan project, is expected to be bolstered by the provision of $16.8 million in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. It is being implemented by the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change through funding by the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The...

A sum of $5 million has been allocated to the Strategic Flexible Funding Facility in the 2013/2014 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The aim of the project is to respond to the strategic short-term development needs of the Government of Jamaica, by facilitating well defined short-term interventions needing high quality research and analysis, which will have...

The Regional Office of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has pledged its commitment to continue its support of the Government’s efforts to legislate the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Bill. The Bill, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, seeks to safeguard the welfare of employees in the workplace. In an interview with JIS...

Jamaica is set to receive some US$200 million more in financial assistance under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement, than initially anticipated. A statement by the lending agency on Monday, April 8, noted Jamaica’s progress in the implementation of the economic programme thus far, and the Government’s efforts to complete the prior actions and structural benchmarks. “On the basis of...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed the progress made by Jamaica in the implementation of prior actions, for an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement with the Fund. “Since the conclusion of a staff-level agreement with the Jamaican authorities in February on an economic programme that can be supported by the Fund, the authorities have submitted documentation to the IMF...

Some $401.9 million has been provided to continue work in four parishes, under phase two of the government’s Rural Road Rehabilitation Project. The allocation, which is set out in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, currently being reviewed by the Standing Finance Committee of the House, aims to rehabilitate approximately 47 kilometres of road and supporting infrastructure in sections of Clarendon,...

Just over $8 million has been allocated in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, currently before the House of Representatives, to fund the Integrated Management of the Yallahs/Hope River Watershed Management Area Project, in the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change. The undertaking, being implemented by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), aims to reduce the pressure on...

As part of efforts to mitigate the threat of invasive alien species in the Caribbean, the Government has allocated some $41 million to the project. This is contained in the 2013/14 Estimate of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The project, being implemented by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), seeks to mitigate the threat to local biodiversity...