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The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) will, this fiscal year, continue to train emergency response teams, implement community micro-mitigation projects, and access more data for hazard risk reduction implementation. These activities will be carried out with budgetary support of $32 million, which has been allocated in the 2011/12 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. ...

KINGSTON — Disasters are unpredictable and can occur at any time. As such, it is imperative that preparedness mechanisms be implemented to cushion the impact and damage. Across the globe, discussions are still ongoing about the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred in Japan, causing widespread deaths, injury and property damage. The disaster resulted in many countries re-examining their preparedness...

KINGSTON — The Jamaica Economical Housing Project has received $1.5 billion in the 2011/12 Estimates of Expenditure to upgrade infrastructure (water, sewerage and roads) in the rural communities of St. Ann and St. Elizabeth. Other objectives of the project,  as outlined in the Estimates, now before the House, include: alleviating the deficit of housing solutions in St. Ann, by providing...

KINGSTON — The Government has earmarked $24.3 million for the development of a comprehensive multi-hazard disaster management plan for towns and cities under the Natural Hazard Management in Urban Coastal Areas project. The project, which got underway in April 2008, seeks to strengthen the parish response capacity through comprehensive disaster management training, public education, and awareness; and provide technical assistance...

KINGSTON — The Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Programme has received an additional $103 million in the 2011/12 estimates, now before the House of Representatives. The programme seeks to increase resilience and reduce risks associated with natural hazards in vulnerable areas, as an adaptive measure to climate change, contributing to sustainable development in Jamaica. It also aims to...

KINGSTON — A sum of $6.9 million has been set aside in the 2011/2012 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, to continue measures to phase-out the use of ozone depleting substances (ODS), and address the illegal trade of such substances. The initiatives will be carried out under the Montreal Protocol for the Phasing out of Ozone Depleting...

KINGSTON — A sum of $8.7 million has been allocated in the 2011/12 Estimates of Expenditure, currently before the House of Representatives, to continue work on the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce’s Plant Breeding and Diagnostics Technologies project. With funding from the Government of Jamaica and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) the main objectives of the projects are:...

The Government will be spending $18 million on the Rural Water Supply project, in 2011/12. This is according to the 2011/12 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representative on Thursday (April 14). The Rural Water Supply Project aims to improve the basic sanitary/ health conditions, by increasing the coverage of potable water and sanitation services in poor rural...

KINGSTON — The Government has allotted some $224 million to a pilot programme focused on mainstreaming climate resilience in the national policy-making process. The funds have been set aside in the 2011/2012 Estimates of Expenditure, which were tabled in the House of Representatives on April 14 by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw. The initiative  seeks...

Jamaica joins the rest of the world in marking Monday, April 18 as the International Day for Monuments and Sites. The day has been celebrated since 1982 when it was first adopted by UNESCO. The theme for this year is the ‘Cultural Heritage of Water’. Here in Jamaica, our bodies of water have played an integral role in development. This...

KINGSTON — Minister of Water and Housing, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, says Government is reviewing all public lands, with a view to collaborating with private developers to provide more affordable housing solutions. "We still have enough lands out there to provide housing…we have to acquire (lands) in the Corporate Area, and we are looking at that extensively, as well,” he...

KINGSTON — Robert Campbell and Joyce Rose seemed at a loss for words to express the joy and gratitude they felt after receiving titles for properties they occupy in Sligoville, St. Catherine last week. The two were among some 50 persons from the community, which is the site of Jamaica’s first free village, who were presented with certificates of title...