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The Government has set aside $18 million to equip wards at the Metcalfe Street Juvenile Centre with livelihood skills and increased access to work opportunities. As contained in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, currently before the House of Representatives, the money is being provided under the Support to Metcalfe Project, which is being funded by the United Nations Development Programme...

Jamaica is getting ready to welcome member of the British Royal family, His Royal Highness, Prince Michael Of Kent, who will arrive on April 15 for a five-day visit. While on the island, Prince Michael will stay at King’s House, where on Tuesday, April 16, he will attend a special luncheon hosted by Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir...

The Jamaica National Crime Victimisation Survey has been given $6 million in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. With support funding from the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID), the project, which started in October 2012, is expected to end in July 2013. It seeks to contribute to the detailed and accurate analysis of...

The contributions to public service and the trade union movement by former South East St. Elizabeth Member of Parliament, and Junior Government Minister, Derrick Rochester, have not gone unnoticed. Recently hundreds packed the HEART/NTA-run South West TVET Institute in Junction, in the parish where they heaped praises on him for his years in the public service. When bauxite infrastructural development...

A sum of $135.6 million has been allocated to a project to reduce/eliminate administrative barriers and to establish an improved business operating environment to support private sector growth. Details of the Promote, Renew, Investigate, Develop and Energise (PRIDE) Project are included in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, which is now before the House of Representatives. Anticipated targets for 2013/2014 include:...

The Government has allocated some $10 million to boost activities under the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Local Offender and Deported Persons Programme. As outlined in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, the programme seeks to: reduce the rate of re-offending among local offenders and deportees; improve the rehabilitation and reintegration of deportees and offenders in...

A sum of $49 million has been set aside for the Poverty Reduction Programme II in the Ministry of National Security. This has been outlined in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The project, which is being financed by the European Union, seeks to contribute to poverty alleviation through sustainable growth with emphasis on the...

The Government has allocated some $211 million to carry out repair work at adult correctional centres across the island. This is outlined in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. Of the sum, $35 million will go towards the repair of cells and other maintenance services at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre. Another $35 million...

Work to develop the Global Logistics Hub Initiative during this year, is to be boosted significantly by the provision of $50 million in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure, which were tabled in the House of Representatives on April 4. The allocation has been earmarked to purchase equipment, and finance the provision of services, among other inputs, to continue work already...

The Government has at no time engaged in any secret deal or quiet withdrawal of funds from the National Housing Trust, NHT. Claims of a secret NHT deal contained in an article in the Sunday Gleaner on April 7 with the headline ‘Secret Deal: NHT paid $4billion into government’s coffers last year’, are incorrect and misleading. It is a well...

The Government of Jamaica has signed a letter of intent with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for the extension of the PRIDE Jamaica Programme, which is expected to bring about continued improvement in the tax administration system. The Promote, Renew, Invigorate, Develop, and Energize (PRIDE) Jamaica project, which is being funded at a cost of US$1.7 million,...

Just over $1.45 billion has been allocated in the 2013/14 Estimates of Expenditure to continue work on the Jamaica Economical Housing Project, being implemented by the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing. Under the project, work is slated to be undertaken on some 764 service lots, in phase three of the Belle Air development in St. Ann. The project, which...