The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service is developing a Public Financial Management Policy for Natural Disaster Risk. Portfolio Minister, Dr. Hon. Nigel Clarke, said that the policy will be submitted to the Cabinet and if approved, laid in Parliament. Dr. Clarke, who was opening the 2019/20 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 7, said the...

Local Government and Community Development Minister, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, says the new Anti-Litter Act will place greater emphasis on compliance, to minimise the illegal disposal of waste. Speaking with JIS News, the Minister said further amendments are to be made to the Act, following recommendations made by Cabinet. “When I took the document to Cabinet, there were some concerns about...

President of the National Water Commission (NWC), Mark Barnett, says the agency will be spending more than $5 billion on major infrastructure development projects this year. “We’re replacing two pipes on Ferry. We’re putting in sewers on Constant Spring Road and we are decommissioning about three to four mains on Constant Spring road to install one major transmission. We’re also...

President of the National Water Commission (NWC), Mark Barnett, says the Ferry pipeline transmission main should be operational by July. Work is under way to replace the broken, 18-inch transmission main along the Mandela Highway, which is buried 35-feet deep. The irreparable break has disrupted water supplied to sections of the Corporate Area, since last December. Speaking at a JIS...

The Government is to commence 17 infrastructure projects in targeted communities during the upcoming fiscal year under the Poverty Reduction Programme IV. These include construction, expansion and rehabilitation of police stations, schools, health and community centres. A sum of $558.8 million has been provided in the 2019/20 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, for the undertaking. Being...

Work to construct the Montego Bay perimeter road (bypass) will commence in the 2019/2020 fiscal year with a $500-million allocation. The sum is set aside in the 2019/20 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. The project aims to create a safe and reliable alternative route for motorists travelling within and across Montego Bay, resulting in reduced traffic...

The Government has allocated another $586.4 million to continue work on 44 kilometres of roads in St. Mary and St. Ann under the Road Rehabilitation Project II. The project, which was initiated in April 2017, entails repairing the 13.6-kilometre roadway from Toms River to Broadgate, and 14.8 kilometres between Broadgate and Agualta Vale in St. Mary, and the 15-kilometre Alexandria...