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Jamaicans can expect a bypass road to the north coast in three years. The road which is expected to start at Caymanas, will bypass the flood prone Bog Walk Gorge, Mount Rosser and Fern Gully, and is part of the North/South link of Highway 2000. The Government  on June 21, signed implementation and concession agreements with Jamaica North South Highway...

The Government on June 21 signed implementation and concession agreements for work to begin on the North/South link of Highway 2000 with Jamaica North South Highway Company Ltd. (JNSHC), a special purpose company established by China Harbour Engineering and Construction Company (CHEC), to undertake the development. The signing took place at the offices of the Ministry of Transport and Works, ...

Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, Hon. Dr. Omar Davies, says the granting of licences for certain routes will have to be linked to profitability. “There are just too many licences granted, and the ‘run jostle’ mentality, it isn’t surprising that this has occurred. We are going to deal with that to ensure that the number of licences which are...

Minister of Transport and Works, Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies, has expressed satisfaction with the impact of the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP). “I can’t recall in my long years in the public sector, any programme, announced in January and is up and running in March…over 6,000 jobs were created (and) we identified funding and moved forward,” he told journalists...

Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies, has disclosed that over the past six months, there have been steady improvements in the finances of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), with income moving from an average of $7 million to $10 million per day. He also informed that there has been a gradual increase in the...

Transport, Works and Housing Minister, Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies, says agreements for the implementation of the US$600 million North/South Link of Highway 2000, between Angels, St. Catherine, and Ocho Rios, St. Ann, are expected to be signed by the end of the week. The project is one of three which the current administration inherited from their predecessors, which they...

Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, Dr. the Hon. Omar Davies, says Phase II of the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), will be significantly bigger and more impactful than its first phase. Opening the 2012/13 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, on June 19, Dr. Davies disclosed that government financing has been identified for funding of the second phase...

Cabinet has approved the award of two contracts valued at $78.8 million to Bacchus Engineering Works Limited to carry out extensive infrastructure upgrading in the Central Village area of St. Catherine. The projects will be implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) under the World Bank-funded Inner City Basic Services for the Poor Project (ICBSP). The scope of work...

The Government has engaged Stanley Consultants Incorporated as its representative of the Highway 2000 project. Cabinet, at its sitting earlier this week, approved the award of a US$2.5 million contract to the international engineering consultants. The company will become the National Road Operating and Constructing Company’s (NROCC) technical advisor on all specialist areas of engineering for the project, with services...

Effective September 1, 2012, contributors  of the NHT who qualify for loans at 3 per cent interest will now only repay at 1 per cent, while contributors who qualify for loans at 5 per cent will now pay only 3 per cent. These special reduced rates will apply for three years. This was announced Tuesday June 5, by Prime Minister,...

The Government has granted the National Housing Trust (NHT) tax free status in respect of General Consumption Tax (GCT), stamp duty, property tax and transfer tax for the next two years, as means of providing affordable housing for low income workers, particularly persons who earn less than $10,000 per week. This was announced Tuesday June 5, by Prime Minister, the...

Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, said the Government remains unwavering in its commitment to ensure that Jamaicans, who occupy lands for which they have no titles, will soon have these important documents in their possession. Speaking at the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP) titling ceremony at the Linstead Baptist Church in St. Catherine on...