Boscobel Primary School to be Expanded

A contract to expand the Boscobel Primary School in St. Mary was signed by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), in that community on December 9.
The contract, which is worth $4.76 million, has been awarded to Garan-Tee Construction Limited. Work is expected to begin in January 2005 and should last for three months.
This project is sponsored by the Boscobel Primary School Parent Teachers’ Association, the Board of Governors of the school and the St. Matthew’s Church Committee.
The expansion will result in the construction of three classrooms, and a computer room. A perimeter fence will also be erected.
As part of the requirements for funding, the community will be expected to contribute a minimum of 11 per cent of the cost.
Giving the main address at the function, Horace Nurse, representative of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which is a partner in the project, said it was the latest to be implemented under the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF). He noted that the BNTF was a development assistance programme, which was administered by the CDB and supported by grant funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Mr. Nurse explained that the Fund was designed to assist low income communities in planning and implementing projects to improve their access to essential services.
Congratulating the people of Boscobel for partnering with the project, Mr. Nurse said any effort in support of education was a worthwhile investment.
Also addressing the function was Omar Sweeney, Operations Manager at the JSIF. He said his organization has had a long and fruitful history of working with communities in St. Mary, and pointed out that since its inception in 1996, the JSIF has approved a total of 37 projects in the parish, representing an investment of approximately $262 million.
He encouraged the sponsors and the wider community to work closely with the contractors to ensure that the work was carried out to the highest standard, and exhorted them to protect the school.