BCDP Celebrates 30 Years of Sustained Investment in Bauxite Communities

Phase VIII of the Bauxite Community Development Programme (BCDP) was officially launched on Wednesday (March 4), marking 30 years of sustained investment in Jamaica’s mining communities and reinforcing the long standing commitment to life beyond bauxite.

The new phase carries an allocation of $400 million and will continue to support agriculture, education, infrastructure, and community development initiatives across Jamaica’s traditional bauxite producing parishes.

Speaking during the launch and 30th anniversary celebration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining’s playfield, Hope Gardens, St. Andrew, on Wednesday (March 4), Portfolio Minister, Hon. Floyd Green, reflected on the significance of the milestone, observed under the theme ‘BCDP at 30: Building Communities and Empowering Futures’.

“[This has been] one of Jamaica’s most transformational initiatives. As you have heard from the theme… we have been about building communities and empowering futures,” he said.

Mr. Green explained that the programme was established to ensure mining revenues are reinvested in host communities.

“Whatever wealth that we generate from our mining industries, we have to have a structure to ensure that that wealth finds its way back into the communities. The BCDP has been that structure,” he added.

The Minister noted that over the past three decades, the programme has supported projects in agriculture, education, and healthcare.

Shifting focus to the agricultural thrust under Phase VIII, Mr. Green highlighted the continued rollout of protected farming, with expanded greenhouse clusters being established across several communities.

“We plan to establish an additional 80 greenhouses, possibly as many as 120, organised into clusters across 12 communities, with 10 greenhouses in each community,” the Minister stated.

Mr. Green also highlighted ongoing recovery efforts in communities following hurricane damage.

“Coming from Hurricane Melissa, about 91 of our greenhouses that we established were damaged. As such, under the Ministry’s Hurricane Recovery Fund, we’re allocating $66 million to repair all of those greenhouses so we can have those clusters functioning again,” the Minister said.

Meanwhile, in the area of education, Mr. Green highlighted the expansion of tertiary support for students from mining communities.

“We issued 14 scholarships in 2023, and in this phase, we’re going to be ensuring that 30 youth from across our bauxite mining communities get their dream of pursuing tertiary education fulfilled through these resources. We have to train the next generation of mining professionals,” he stated

In the meantime, Minister Green emphasised the importance of transparency in project implementation.

“We are trying to ensure that in this future of mining, transparency and accountability are at the forefront. We don’t want you to guess where the resources are being spent and the sort of impact we’re having,” he added.

In his remarks delivered by BCDP Advisory Board Member, Samara South, Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) Chairman, Dave Powell, noted that Phase VIII builds on three decades of structured investment.

“Phase VIII represents a forward thinking step in that direction. Programmes of this magnitude do not succeed with financial allocations alone… they endure and flourish because of the people,” he said.

Mr. Powell emphasised the governance framework guiding project selection, noting that “projects are not selected casually or arbitrarily”.

“They are subject to rigorous assessment, informed by consultation with community groups and Members of Parliament. [They are also] grounded in field observation, elevated against the proximity to mining operations, scrutinised for cost efficiency and critically measured by income-generating potential and capacity-building impacts,” he further stated.

Highlighting the scale of agricultural achievements under the programme since 2010, Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) Managing Director, Omar Sweeney, noted that more than 180 greenhouses have been developed, with more than 800 farmers ultimately set to benefit from the initiative.

“As long as we can remain successful, this programme will grow until we have sheltered infrastructure greenhouses in every single parish across Jamaica,” he stated.

The Bauxite Community Development Programme, administered by the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, continues to serve as a central mechanism for channelling mining derived resources into community transformation and fostering long term resilience.