New Garbage Trucks to Arrive Shortly

Fifty new garbage trucks, being acquired by the Government for the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), are expected to arrive shortly.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says the units are slated “to be here very soon… in a matter of weeks”.

“We’re planning for another 50 [trucks] to come… in the next [2023/24] fiscal year; that would be a total of 100 [over the period],” Dr. Clarke added.

He was speaking recently during the Rotary Club of Kingston’s weekly luncheon, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Dr. Clarke said the initial 50 trucks were programmed for acquisition prior to the onset of COVID-19 in 2020.
He pointed out, however, that those plans were deferred, consequent on the economic fallout resulting from the pandemic, which saw government revenue inflows declining by $75 billion that year.

The Minister said this was compounded by $40 billion in additional expenditures, consequent on COVID-19, “that we never budgeted for”.

These, he said, included provisions under the COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme, allocations to the health sector, and funding support for Public Bodies.

Dr. Clarke said despite the $115-billion difference, “we had to make that [budget] work without missing a step”.

This, he pointed out, resulted in adjustments to the Budget, noting that programmed acquisition of the garbage trucks had to be deferred, with the Government now looking to bring these in.

Dr. Clarke said consequent on the economy recovering at a “very fast clip” and performing “better than planned… we are experiencing overperformance,” adding that this “is always a good thing”.

Noting that “there is no doubt about our trajectory,” the Minister cited 2021/22 fiscal year growth out-turn of 8.2 per cent and projections of 4.5 per cent for 2022/23.

“I’m pleased that the Jamaican economy is on track to returning to pre-COVID levels of economic output by 2023… which is a big deal. We went all the way down to 82 per cent, [but] we’re [now] at 97 per cent of our pre-COVID levels of economic output. That, if we achieve it, will be far ahead of our peers in the Caribbean region,” he stated.

Dr. Clarke said Jamaica’s better-than-anticipated rate of recovery is related to the fact that “we were able to maintain macro stability through the crisis”.

“This Government is focused on ensuring that stability is something we possess in good and bad times… that in crisis, we can still be macro-economically stable,” Dr. Clarke emphasised.

This, he added, “so that we can maximise the resources that can be deployed towards capital investments and improving the physical and human stock and infrastructure in Jamaica”.