Rural Electrification Programme to Receive $70 Million

The Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce is to receive $70 million to finance Phase Four of the Rural Electrification Programme.
The provision has been made in the 2007/08 Estimates of Expenditure, which was tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday (March 29), by Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. Omar Davies. The funds will be used for: compensation of employees; travel expenses and subsistence; rental of property, machinery and equipment; public utility services; purchase of other goods and services; and the purchase of equipment (capital goods). Meanwhile, the main targets for the fiscal period are to construct 70 kilometres of distribution power lines in rural Jamaica and wire 1,400 houses.
The Rural Electrification Programme Limited was incorporated in 1975 as an executive agency of the Government following a feasibility study that determined that there was a need for such an entity.
The Company was established to undertake the expansion of electricity services to rural areas where such services would not be a financially viable investment for a commercial entity.