Caribbean News

$93 Million allocated for Street Signs and Fire Stations

Published

7 years ago

August 28, 2017

#Jamaica, August 28, 2017 – Mandeville – Some $93 million has been earmarked for retrofitting and putting up street signs across the island as well as renovating and repairing fire stations. The amount to be spent on street signs is $35 million and the allocation for fire stations is $58 million.

This was announced by Local Government and Community Development Minister, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, at a town hall meeting on property tax held at Holmwood Technical High School in Christiana, Manchester, on August 23. The Minister said he is not pleased with the payment of property taxes in Manchester, as the parish was ranked amongst the lowest in compliance across the country over the last three financial years.

Mr. McKenzie also noted that Christiana, one of the most important communities in the parish, has also done poorly in property tax collection. The Minister noted that in 2016/17, only $483 million was collected in property taxes for Manchester, and that of the $1-billion target set for this year, to date there has been a collection of $42 million.

Mr. McKenzie explained that Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) has worked out a payment plan to make it easier for people to pay their taxes, including a more comfortable office space that is up and running in Mandeville. He also noted that the two tax mobiles that have been going around the island to make collections more convenient were in Manchester since August 22.

“We are now at the stage where persons who want to make cash payments will be able to do so at the tax mobiles,” Mr. McKenzie said.

He reminded the gathering that their taxes cover the provision of street lights and garbage collection, and, come September, Manchester will receive one of the additional garbage trucks that are due to arrive in Jamaica.

“By the end of next year, we intend to improve garbage collection by introducing 100 new garbage trucks into the system across the country,” the Minister said.

He pointed out that in the last 12 months, the Government spent $500 million from property tax to provide new garbage trucks. The Minister said that street lights had also been put up in the town of Christiana along the new bypass, and that a programme to install directional signs in communities across Jamaica would begin in the coming months.

He noted that some 2,500 young people are currently collecting data in a street light audit, and that information will be used to ensure all communities have street lights, adding that Manchester will get 400 more lights.

Release: JIS

Caribbean News

STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS EXPECTED TO ASSIST GOV’T PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Published

2 days ago

April 30, 2024

Shanieka

KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.

This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.

“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.

He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).

Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.

“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.

“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.

Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.

Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.

The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.

The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.

NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.

CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON

Caribbean News

Haiti- ECHO humanitarian efforts

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff writer

#Haiti#Crisis#HumanitarianEfforts#ECHO, April 23rd, 2024 – Due to the worsening Humanitarian crisis in Haiti with an increase in death toll and injured people, The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), launched an emergency airlift of 5 flights carrying essentials which include up to 62 tons of medicine as well as emergency shelter equipment, and water and sanitation items. These were brought to Cap Haitien according to a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on April 19, as the international Airport in Port au prince remains closed following the gang attack last month.

Caribbean News

Dominica repeals laws criminalizing gay sex

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Dominica#LGBTQIA, April 24, 2034- Dominica has decided to remove colonial era laws that criminalized gay sex, joining Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.

This comes almost five years after a man of the queer community, whose identity was withheld for his safety, spoke out against Dominica’s laws in 2019, saying they violated his rights.