Spending Review Underway to Prioritise Transport and Works Projects

Minister of Transport and Works, Mike Henry has said an expenditure audit is currently taking place at the Ministry to assess and prioritize future expenditure in the context of existing financial constraints.
The Minister told a JIS News Think Tank session at the Agency’s Head Office in Kingston on Tuesday (Oct. 9), that the spending review was being done so that critical programmes and projects could receive appropriate attention while dealing decisively with operations within the portfolio that were losing money.
Noting that the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has been invited to be part of the expenditure audit process, Minister Henry pointed out that the state-operated Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) is “receiving priority attention as the $100 million monthly loss cannot continue.”
Informing that the naming of a new Board would be done later Tuesday, the Minister noted that chartered accountant, Douglas Chambers, has taken 18 months leave from his accounting firm to serve as Chairman at the bus company.
The Transport and Works Minister stressed that the changes being made in this area forms part of his broader vision for the transport sector. Outlining this vision, Minister Henry said: “The four elements of transport must be brought in close proximity of each other hence plans for Vernamfield in Clarendon, re-development of the Jamaica Railway and the transport of cargo by sea, are on the front burner.”
Minister Henry said the current Administration was seeking to revolutionize the approach to transport development by adopting good models from other countries.
It was in this context that Minister Henry offered his Central Clarendon constituency as an emerging zoning model: “In May Pen it is ensured that you go from basic school through high school to a distance learning form of tertiary education without travelling any more than half-a-mile.”