Facilities for Homeless and Indigent Persons to Be Built

The Government will be constructing two drop-in centres in Trelawny and St. Thomas this year as temporary accommodation for transient, homeless persons.

The facilities will bring to eight the number of drop-in centres set up across the island through the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.

Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Patrick Allen, made the disclosure while delivering the Throne Speech in Gordon House on Thursday (February 15).

“The Government will also build four homes for registered indigent persons this year, in a programme to build 28 indigent homes across the island,” he further informed.

He said the Government will embark on the construction of fire stations in Montego Bay, Port Maria and Yallahs as part of the World Bank Disaster Vulnerability Project, which is to be administered by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).

“The Local Government Ministry is also to purchase 12 garbage trucks as it moves towards enhanced waste collection and disposal,” he noted.

In the meantime, the Governor-General said the Local Government Ministry will continue to improve the efficiency of its service delivery through the enactment of several pieces of legislation, including the National Solid Waste Management (Disposal of Solid Waste) Regulations.

These Regulations are intended to control the kinds of material that may be disposed of at a landfill, and the manner in which such disposal is done.

They will also serve to impose tipping fees on users of the landfill and to deal with the disposal of electronic waste.

It is also intended that the National Solid Waste Management (Public Cleansing) Regulations, as well as the National Solid Waste Management (Disposal of Hazardous Waste) (Electronic and Electrical Waste) Regulations will be enacted this year.

Additionally, the Fire Brigade Act is to be amended to abolish the Board of the Jamaica Fire Brigade and transfer the functions of the Board to the Ministry.

The Throne Speech was delivered under the theme ‘Continuing on the Path to Prosperity’.