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Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has urged United Kingdom-(UK) based Jamaicans to put pressure on their political representatives, in pressing their case against a planned increase of the Air Passenger Duty (APD) regime. Speaking at a community meeting at the Jamaican High Commission in London recently, Mr. Bartlett said the proposed increase, would be crippling to tourism in Jamaica and...

Director of the Road Safety Unit, Kenute Hare, is appealing to motorists and other road users to exercise increased safety in the traffic environment, in order to reduce the number of pedestrians who are being mowed down on the nation's roads. This call follows the Unit's March 2009 Traffic Crash Report, which shows pedestrian fatalities accounting for 32 per cent...

Eight more corporate area schools are to benefit from the Reading for Educational Achievement and Development Programme (READ), which is aimed at improving the reading and comprehension skills of basic school students in inner-city communities. Barita Education Foundation, which is the local implementing agency for the programme, has partnered with Digicel Foundation to expand the reach of the initiative, which...

The driving skills of bus operators employed to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) will be significantly improved with the installation of a state-of-the-art bus driver simulator at the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) at Palisadoes Park in Kingston. The simulator, valued at Euro $1.1 million, is part of a joint project between the Governments of Belgium and Jamaica, and will...

The Ministry of Transport and Works has signed a US$500,000 contract for supply and installation of vehicular weighing scales at various points across the island. The four scales will form part of the Ministry's efforts to contain the damage to roads by overloaded trucks. Under the 90-day contract awarded to Advance Scales and Equipment Limited, the scales will be installed...

Minister of Transport and Works, Michael Henry, has indicated that he would be meeting with the Belgian delegation that is now in the island, to discuss the financing of 200 more buses, to beef up the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) fleet. Mr. Henry, who made the disclosure at Tuesday(March 4), post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, said the offer...

The Government has spent some $60 million on emergency road repairs in six parishes, which were affected by flood rains, between February 2 and 12. Speaking at Wednesday's (March 4) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Minister of Transport and Works, Michael Henry, said that preliminary estimates indicate that some $830,000,000 would be needed to conduct road repairs and river...

Head of the Police Area Three Division, Superintendent Ryland Salmon, has assured that the police will be working assiduously to ensure that the public transportation system, particularly in the towns of Christiana, Mandeville, and Spaldings, operate in an orderly and decent manner. Speaking at a meeting of the Spaldings Citizens Association in Clarendon recently, the Superintendent emphasised the need for...

Director General of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, Rear Admiral Peter Brady, has been re-elected as Chairman of the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO's) Sub-Committee on Standards for Training and Watchkeeping. This is Rear Admiral Brady's sixth consecutive election as Chairman of the sub-committee. "I am proud to be representing my country Jamaica and indeed the Caribbean at this level in...

Following the Jamaica Urban Transit Company's (JUTC) roll out of the cashless system on all Express routes on February 1, commuters in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR), are singing the praises of the company for offering a more efficient and convenient service. Just how beneficial have Express commuters found this switch to cashless? Marion Johnson, who plies the Greater...

Minister of Transport and Works, Michael Henry, has called on the various taxi associations to work with the Transport Authority, to reduce the number of illegal operators. "(You) have a responsibility to encourage your members to operate legally," Mr. Henry told representatives of the island's taxi groupings at a symposium held yesterday (Feb.12) at the University of the West Indies'...

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, says the Sangster International Airport (SIA), is increasingly an important hub linking North America and Europe with the Caribbean and Central America, but it has potential for much more. "Jamaica has an advantage that we have not yet even begun to exploit. We are sitting in the centre of major air and shipping routes that link...