TEF Chairman Blames Public Servants for Delays in Projects

Chairman of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), Godfrey Dyer, is blaming tardiness on the part of public servants for delays in starting many of the projects approved for financing by his organisation.
“It is frustrating, some of these projects we approved two years ago and nothing is done yet. We have approved projects to the tune of $2.3 billion, and we have paid out under $1 billion. The projects are just sitting there,” he said.
Mr. Dyer was addressing a meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay, at the Wexford Hotel, Montego Bay, St. James on Thursday (May 21).
The TEF Chairman outlined the many projects that his organisation is now financing across the island, costing billions of dollars. Mr. Dyer said that the delays being experienced on some of them which, he said, may cause an escalation in the cost by the time of implementation.
He said that a common excuse is to blame the Contractor General’s Office for the delays, but his personal investigations have revealed that this is not the cause.
“My Board of Directors is so upset with the delays because of the programmes that we approve, and the period within which we have approved them, if they were carried out, nobody would be asking today, what is the TEF doing? We would have seen it out there,” he stated.
He emphasised that the TEF will continue to assist in every way to enhance the Jamaican tourism product. He also described the product as the envy of the rest of the Caribbean and suggested that everything should be done to keep it that way.