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Despite pre-dawn rain, scores of volunteers turned out on Labour Day, May 23, to participate in the national project - the St. Mary Infirmary - which received a major facelift. The turnout was reflective of the theme for this year’s Labour Day activities: ‘Lend a Hand…Build our Land’. Youth and Culture Minister, Hon. Lisa Hanna; State Minister, Ministry of Local...

Minister with responsibility for Housing, Hon. Dr. Morais Guy, says the Government will be undertaking a “vigorous housing programme” in urban centres as part of a renewed emphasis on urban renewal. Dr. Guy, who was making his contribution to the 2013/2014 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 21, said that much of the infrastructure in several communities...

The draft of the National Policy and Plan of Action on International Migration and Development is at an advanced stage and should be completed by June 2013. This was disclosed by Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hon. Arnaldo Brown, during his contribution to the 2013/2014 Sectoral debate in the House of Representatives on...

Work on the $1.83 billion Port Antonio Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Project, is slated to get underway in July. Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, yesterday (May 2) broke ground for the development, which will involve major rehabilitation and construction of water distribution, sewerage, and drainage systems serving the Portland capital and its environs. The...

Jamaica is to host a Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF) on May 2, aimed at facilitating private sector led growth and job creation. The forum will be held at the University of the West Indies, and will see participants from the public and private sectors, academia and the media; decision makers, business leaders, policy makers, young people and other stakeholders discussing...

Jamaica’s library network will soon boast a new international digital cataloguing system, which will help persons doing research or requesting information from library archives. The system, called the Resource Description and Access(RDA), is the new international cataloguing standard, designed for the digital environment. It is intended to replace the current Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), and is being developed primarily for...

The Government will be expending $25.4 million this fiscal year, to strengthen the capacity of testing laboratories involved in the export of agricultural and agro-processed products to the European Union (EU) markets. The allocation, provided under the European Development Fund Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Capacity Building Project, is contained in the 2013/2014 Estimates of Expenditure, which is now before the...

A total of $39.8 million has been allocated to the Planning Model Development and National Development Plan ‘T21’ in the 2013/2014 Estimates of Expenditure. The project, which is being implemented by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PSOJ), seeks to prepare a long-term National Development Plan, along with 31 sector plans, which would result in Jamaica achieving developed country status by...

An Agricultural Committee for St. Elizabeth was launched on March 21 by Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Roger Clarke. This Committee, comprising the 15 councillors in the parish, signals an alignment with the goals of the agricultural plan in the Vision 2030 national development plan, which has national food security and long term development as some of its goals....

The functions of the Regional Health Authorities will be among the issues put under the microscope, when the Ministry of Health begins discussions on health care reform. Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, told members of the Jamaica Association of Health Service Executives (JAHSE) on Wednesday, March 13, that he intends to undertake the process of health care reform...

A total of 1,000 residents of St. Ann, St. Mary and Portland are to receive titles to the properties they occupy. The provision is being made under the Cadastral Mapping and Land Registration project, which involves collaboration between the Government and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The first nine residents from communities in the three parishes, were on Friday...

Two publications by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), which address the issue of climate change, are to be tabled in Parliament shortly by Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill. The two documents - ‘2012 State of the Jamaican Climate, Information for Resilience Building’ and ‘2012 State of the Jamaican Climate, Information for Resilience Building, Summary...