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The Banana Spring to Spot Valley main road in Eastern St. James is scheduled to be extensively rehabilitated, at a cost of approximately $10 million. This will be undertaken through the collaborative efforts of a number of public and private sector organisations, led by Member of Parliament Edmund Bartlett and the St. James Parish Council. A Memorandum of Understanding outlining...

Transport and Works Minister, Mike Henry, has refuted claims made by head of the National Transport Co-operative Society (NTCS), Ezroy Millwood, that the government's decision to formally wind up the NTCS's operations, within nine months, was reached without dialogue. To the contrary, the minister said that there have been at least six meetings with the NTCS on the issue since...

Commuters who use the Jamaica Urban Transit Company's (JUTC) Premium and Express services will be required to pay more as of next Wednesday, April 1. Corporate Communications Manager at JUTC, Reginald Allen, told JIS News that passengers who pay $60, $80 or $100 to utilise the bus services, will now pay an additional $20; routes that previously cost $120 will...

Several roads and drains in western Jamaica are undergoing major improvement and cleaning, as the National Works Agency (NWA) has embarked on a $30.8 million patching programme, and a $5.1 million road and drainage improvement project. According to NWA Community Relations Officer for the Western Region, Janel Ricketts, the bushing and cleaning of drains along some 132 kilometres of roadway...

In anticipation of the busy summer travel season, Air Jamaica will add two weekly non-stop flights from New York /JFK to Grenada, bringing the airline's total weekly Grenada flights to four. Beginning June 26, this year, Air Jamaica will add a Friday flight; and beginning July 13, the company will add a Monday flight. The airline currently operates two weekly,...

Lost on the road and unsure of the correct route to take? With the launch of Jamaica's first Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation system, getting lost while driving can become a thing of the past. By just plotting in the destination, the digital road map, which was developed by the Mona Geo-informatics Institute (MGI), will recommend the route to be...

Parents and guardians are being urged not to send young children alone in the traffic environment, as they tend to possess psychological and physiological limitations, which will require the presence of an adult to make informed decisions, such as proper use of the road. In an interview with JIS News, Director of the Road Safety Unit, Kenute Hare, pointed out...

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...