Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, says the Bailey bridge to be erected at the Riverton City landfill in Kingston, at a cost of $75 million, is slated for completion by January 2021. Mr. McKenzie said the temporary bridge, for which funding has been earmarked in the 2020/21 Estimates of Expenditure, will replace the existing structure...

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, is expected to meet with cruise line operators regarding the threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as it relates to future bookings. “I am going to meet with the cruise lines on Friday (March 6), after which we will have a better sense of how things are looking down the road. We are talking with...

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the Government is monitoring industry developments in relation to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in key visitor source markets. He advised that contact is being maintained with overseas partners as part of efforts to keep abreast of the extent of the outbreak and how this could impact bookings and visitor arrivals. “As it stands now,...

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, says she will be monitoring developments regarding the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, to see what decisions will be made in light of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). She indicated this during Wednesday’s (March 4) meeting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, which is now examining the...

The 2020/21 Estimates of Expenditure has been adjusted from $852.7 billion to $853.5 billion to reflect an additional $792 million to fund the operations of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), which will be integrated into the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology. “That additional expenditure will be financed by a [provision] from PCJ… from the funds that they have,”...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says the Administration is on course to achieving the 2019/20 Central Government capital expenditure target of just over $72 billion, based on projections to the end of March. Dr. Clarke, who noted that the programmed expenditure for the first nine months of the fiscal year was behind by...

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says industry projections for Fiscal Year 2020/21 have been revised in light of the threat posed by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). “Current global situations require for us to review some of our projected out-turns as well as our market strategy and, perhaps, to cautiously examine where and how we apply the budgetary arrangements with regards...