Work to Improve Jamaica’s Emergency Communication System Continues in 2023/24

The Government has budgeted $360 million to continue improving Jamaica’s emergency communication system in fiscal year 2023/24.

The ‘Improvement of Emergency Communication System in Jamaica’ project aims to develop a national platform to coordinate incident response among key agencies of government and volunteers.

Details of the engagement are outlined in the 2023/24 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled recently in the House of Representatives by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke.

For the upcoming year, the budgeted provision will fund the construction and installation of siren masts in 15 locations across three communities – Port Maria, St. Mary, and Bog Walk and Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine.

The allocation will also be used to build solar racks at Portland Cottage in Clarendon and five new repeater huts.

Work to commence the installation of telecommunications equipment is also slated to get under way.

Achievements up to December 2022, include completion of the National Works Agency’s backbone design for disaster emergency communication, and resurvey of 30 repeater and siren sites to determine the structural integrity of the towers.

ODPEM’s Network Operation Centre has also been retrofitted, while 12 repeater sites have been rehabilitated.

Additionally, two maintenance centres were constructed, and two workshops were undertaken for the installation of mobile radios for public emergency vehicles in Kingston and St. James.

The project’s implementation is being spearheaded by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), and co-financed by the Government of Jamaica and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Following several extensions, the initiative, which commenced in October 2016, is slated to end in March 2024.