The Community of Banks in Clarendon is slated to benefit from major drainage upgrading and an electrification exercise for households, among other engagements, under the Government’s $650 million Rural Development Programme.  Minister of State in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Homer Davis, says Banks is one of four communities islandwide where the programmed activities, designed to enhance the lives of residents and the overall economic...

The first cohort of 23 students who participated in an Events Planning and Management Level 3 Supervisory Course, offered by the HEART/NSTA Trust, have completed their studies. They were presented with skills certificates during their graduation ceremony at the Social Development Commission (SDC) complex in St. Catherine, on July 22. The programme, a partnership between the HEART College of Hospitality...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says Jamaica’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has recorded a 15 per cent increase in employment, despite the economic fallout resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  Speaking during the opening of the IBEX BPO facility at the G-Tech Park in Portmore, St. Catherine on Friday (July 23), Mr. Holness said approximately 44,000 persons were employed across the sector as at June 2021, relative to 38,400 for the corresponding period last year.     ...

The Government is providing approximately $70 million in loan funding assistance for the island’s dairy farmers.  Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, says the funds are being provided through the Jamaica Dairy Development Board’s (JDDB) Dairy Concessionary Loan Programme.  “Through this financial scheme, farmers can improve the quality of [their livestock and] increase [their] herd numbers,” Mr. Green said.  He was speaking during a ceremony for the hand-over of silage to the St. Elizabeth Dairy Development Co-operative, on Friday (July 23), at...

Residents of Brown’s Town and its environs in St. Ann, on Friday (July 23), participated in a major plastic bottle collection drive organised by Recycling Partners of Jamaica in collaboration with several key stakeholder entities.   More than two truckloads of bottles were collected, as personnel highlighted the importance of separating plastics from other disposables and recycling these items in order to better preserve the environment.  Other participating partner entities included the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), and Forestry Department.  General...

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, is urging persons who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus (COVID-19) to maintain strict adherence to the stipulated protocols and safeguards.  He says while inoculation will help in reducing the possibility of serious illness, it does not guarantee that individuals won’t contract the disease.     “There are [approximately] 300,000 Jamaicans who have had at least one [COVID-19 vaccine] dose. [But] the fact that you are [among that group] does not mean that...