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Residents of five communities in downtown Kingston now have access to proper bathroom facilities, following the official handing over of 100 sanitation units on September 27. The communities include: Central Kingston, Tivoli Gardens, Denham Town, Hanna Town and Fletcher's Land. Valued at approximately $109 million, the units  were financed by the PetroCaribe Development Fund, through its grant facility which is...

Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister, Hon. Anthony Hylton, says the Global Logistics Hub could add 17 per cent growth to Jamaica’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over six to eight years. The figures, Mr. Hylton said, were baseline estimates provided by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ). The Minister was briefing senior journalists on the global logistics hub, at a breakfast...

Acting Undersecretary of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Janice Miller, says the development of an informed policy on migration will improve the government’s capacity to measure, monitor and manage international migration. She noted that the policy will also seek to address the development priorities outlined in the country's Vision 2030 National Development Plan. Vision 2030 Jamaica...

The Rural Water Supply Limited (RWSL), of the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, has undertaken 20 water catchment projects in the parish of St. Elizabeth, since January 2012. This was done at a cost of $15 million, funded primarily by the Ministry. General Manager of Engineering at RWSL, Douglas Wilson, told JIS News that the projects are...

Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, has announced the completion of a science and technology innovations road map for Jamaica, by the Ministry. Mr. Paulwell emphasised that the road map is pivotal to Jamaica's future development, as the administration believes that the country will not accomplish the “laudable” objectives outlined in the long-term National Development Plan, Vision...

The Government of Jamaica now has a migration profile of the country, which can be used to inform policy development and planning. The profile titled ‘Migration in Jamaica: A country profile 2010’, is the first of its kind in the Caribbean, and was launched by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and...

President of the Jamaica Employers' Federation (JEF), Wayne Chen, has stressed the need for businesses to operate within the formal economy, noting that this is critical for the country prosperity. "We recognize that one of the foundations of our future development will have to be increasing formality within the spheres of economic activity," Mr. Chen stated on September 4, as...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Julian Robinson, will be Jamaica’s representative at a renewable energy Summit, which will be held in the Republic of Malta, from September 6-7. The two-day meeting, dubbed Renewables and Islands Global Summit, is being hosted by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). One of the objectives...

Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Ronald Jackson, says the development of a comprehensive national risk reduction strategy to build resilience to disasters, is vital to the country’s sustained economic and social growth. He argued that unless the impacts of hazards are minimised, they will continue to affect Jamaica’s social, economic and environmental development....

Approximately 75 members of staff of the Grand Palladium Hotel in Point, Hanover, have graduated from a training course in food and beverage service and food preparation, which was carried out by the HEART Trust/NTA. The training course lasted  from January to July and  the successful participants have received the National Vocational Qualification of Jamaica (NVQJ) certificate, in keeping with...

The Ministry of Education will be putting in place a working group aimed at improving the performance of students in both Mathematics and English Language. “This will include the best minds from the academic community, who will assist us to deal with what I consider to be a crisis and the main element that may drop us short of our...

Education Minister, Rev. the Hon. Ronald Thwaites, says the country's education system ranks highly with those of other countries, particularly developed nations, whose standards  Jamaica surpasses in many instances. Speaking at Northern Caribbean University’s (NCU) colloquium at its central campus in Mandeville, Manchester, earlier this week, Rev. Thwaites said that level has been achieved with less Gross National Product (GNP)...