Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Clifford E. Warmington, says the component of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP) from Harbour View in St. Andrew to Yallahs in St. Thomas is now 93% complete.

Making his Sectoral Presentation in Parliament yesterday (May 31, 2023), Minister Warmington disclosed that this section of the SCHIP would be complete by the end of August 2023.

“I can assure you that when next I speak in this Honourable House, it will be on the many benefits associated with this new 17 kilometer-plus stretch of four lane
highway”.

The Minister added that several communities would benefit directly from the road work.

“All the communities between Yallahs and Prospect will boast new road, water and telecoms infrastructure at 100% completion before the end of 2023. So too will those communities from Morant Bay all the way to Cedar Valley. As I speak to you today, we are over 90% complete with the works from Morant Bay to Cedar Valley. These works will be completed by the end of August 2023”.

Minister Warmington further stated that under the SCHIP, 37 bridges and box culverts had been completed to date.

“We have another 14 to be completed. Through this programme, we are providing the SPARK to better resilience in moving around the parishes of Portland and St. Thomas in any weather. Madam Speaker, places like Serge Island, Seaforth, Georgia and New Monkland, where poor infrastructure had been their lot can say for the foreseeable future, no more”, the Minister affirmed.

He added that to date, approximately US$266.2 million had been expended on the projects in the East, including Harbour View to Yallahs. This sum, he said, included a capital outlay for the installation of new water infrastructure.

In the meantime, Minister Warmington also noted that work on Tranche Three projects under the SCHIP would get underway this fiscal year.

“We have another five road sections, three in St. Thomas and two in Portland, to complete the programme of works. This we are referring to as Tranche Three projects.”

Tranche Three works encompass Prospect to Arcadia, St. Thomas; Arcadia to Amity Hall, St. Thomas; Amity Hall to Hordley, St. Thomas; Long Road to Manchioneal, Portland and Fair Prospect to Boston, Portland.

“Madam Speaker, we are speaking about another 36 Kilometers of brand-new road. We are modernizing the east through our infrastructural developments. The process to contract the works is now actively underway and we expect that the works, once they commence before the end of this fiscal year, will be completed by March 2025”.

Minister Warmington said important lessons had been learned in the implementation of the other projects and would be taken on board in carrying out the last five projects.

“We will not, under any circumstances, tolerate anything that will cause undue hardships to the public during the execution of these works” the Minister declared.

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The Government is moving to implement a $40 billion road improvement project to modernize over two thousand (2,000) roads islandwide, under the “Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme”.

 

Minister with responsibility for the Works Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Clifford E. Warmington, made the announcement during his Sectoral Presentation in Parliament today (May 31, 2023).

 

Minister Warmington described SPARK as a “major game changer” in the push to improve the condition of roads across the country.

 

“This Administration considers the intervention as an emergency, within the context of road-related injuries and fatalities, as well as the deteriorating state of the public thoroughfare, resulting from decades of underinvestment.  The vision is to create a transport network that is safe, efficient, and reliable to meet Jamaica’s economic and social needs”, the Minister stated.

 

The key objectives of the programme include improving the targeted road surfaces; improving intersections along targeted urban corridors; installing localized drainage; improving road safety through the construction of retaining walls and installation of guard rails and installing pedestrian facilities at selected locations.

 

“The expected outcomes to be derived from the initiative include improved road safety; better-localized drainage; reduction in travel time; reduction in vehicle operating costs (VOC) and reduction in Motor Vehicle carbon emissions”, the Minister noted.

 

He explained that six criteria would determine which roads would receive attention under the programme. They include “traffic volume; the condition of the road; safety factors such as reducing accidents or increasing emergency response times; cost; ease of implementation and social impacts such as increased access to services or decreased social cohesion”.

 

Minister Warmington said it is expected that the programme will provide the SPARK that will see economic activities returning to some areas and employment numbers trending upward.

Jamaica’s Blue Economy benefits from US$400,000 in technical assistance administered by the World Bank through the PROBLUE Trust Fund Initiative, which is aimed at supporting the sustainable development of blue economies of Small Island Developing States.

Speaking yesterday (Wednesday, May 24, 2023) at the Jamaica Blue Economy Framework Project Stakeholders’ Validation Workshop in Kingston, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, noted that the Project facilitated a baseline assessment of Jamaica’s blue economy, which has been expanded to include the development of a draft roadmap and financing options paper.

“We have been taking care of the development of the varying sectors and segments of our blue economy; what we have lacked for a long time is cohesive strategy and management, and I think this roadmap and this exercise give you that route to cohesion and that is something that we are particularly excited about,” Minister Samuda said.

Minister Samuda added that “the implementation of the recommendations under the roadmap will indeed provide Jamaica with the opportunity to use the Blue Economy to realize the development aspirations reflected in Vision 2030”.

The Blue Economy Framework Project aims to create an enabling environment for the further development of Jamaica’s blue economy and the sustainable use and management of the country’s ocean and marine resources.

“The project can set us on a more cohesive path. We need to work in a manner that accepts the scale of the opportunity that the blue economy provides us…the blue economy can be three trillion (dollars) in 15 years if we do the right things today,” the Minister noted.

Minister Samuda further noted that the Blue Economy offers Jamaica huge opportunities for sustainable economic development, adding that its contribution to Gross Domestic Product is approximately 20 percent.

“Our ocean’s resources are not unending; they are vast but not unending. Therefore, the sustainable management of our blue assets is also important,” he added.

Minister Samuda listed among the assets of the island’s blue economy, the significant opportunities for sustainable fishery practices; the ability to supply the regional needs of jobs in the blue economy, as well as the investment in blue talent and ocean education through institutions such as the Caribbean Maritime University and the University of Technology.

The ‘PROBLUE’ initiative involves a US$200 million multi-donor trust fund administered by the Bank and is aimed at helping countries, such as Jamaica, to chart their course toward a sustainable blue economy.
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Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Clifford E. Warmington says he is pleased with the work being done on the May Pen to Williamsfield leg of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project by China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC).

Speaking today, (Thursday, May 11, 2023), during a tour of the May Pen to Williamsfield leg of the SCHIP, Part A, which is being managed by the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC), Minister Warmington noted that work on the project is 94 percent complete with completion expected by August 2023.

Work on this section of the highway involves the construction of approximately 23 kilometers of a four-lane divided arterial highway from May Pen to Melrose Hill, and the upgrading of approximately 5 kilometers of the existing Melrose Bypass to a four-lane rural arterial divided highway. There will also be an interchange in the vicinity of Clarendon Park with a link road from the highway to the main road.

Meanwhile, Minister Warmington stated that this section of the project is a stark contrast to the Harbour View to Port Antonio leg of the project.

“China Harbour totally controls the construction work here while in the other section, we divided the project between China Harbour and the local contractors,” the Minister noted.

Minister Warmington explained that the National Works Agency is merely the engineer on the project.

“The National Works Agency is the engineer representing the Government of Jamaica. The National Works Agency is not involved in the actual supervision or construction of the project…the obligation is between China Harbour and the local contractors in that section of the highway, so you can’t blame the National Works Agency because the National Works Agency cannot give instructions to the local contractors. They are subcontracted to China Harbour”, explained Minister Warmington.

Residents along the more than 20-kilometer stretch of road between Harbour View and Yallahs have complained about the dust nuisance, access to properties, and the condition of the driving surface, associated with that section of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project project.

The Government intends to complete 10 of the 15 packages that form the local component of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Programme (SCHIP), with the remaining five packages to be awarded during this fiscal year.

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Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation (MEGJC), Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, will lead Jamaica’s climate agenda at the 3rd Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) Ministerial Meeting which is to be held in Brussels, Belgium on May 12, 2023.

Other members of the delegation include Ms. Schmoi McLean, Program Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation from the Ministry; and Mrs. Phillipa Ricketts-Edmund, Director of Hazard Mitigation and Risk Management at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD).

Building on the LoCAL Ministerial Declarations, the third LoCAL Ministerial Meeting, being held under the theme ‘Together for impactful adaptation’, will consider challenges to the climate-resilient development pathway, discuss practical solutions, and agree on a common strategy to accelerate transformational adaptation action at the local level.

The meeting will also provide a unique platform for LoCAL countries to reaffirm their bold leadership and political commitment needed for securing additional finance for accelerated and ambitious local adaptation, through the LoCAL mechanism, in the most climate-vulnerable countries.

“Since becoming a part of LoCAL in 2020, Jamaica has partnered with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to conduct introductory training sessions with staff of Municipal Corporations (MCs); draft a concept note that outlines how the initiative could be successfully implemented in selected MCs; and submit a proposal for funding to the Green Climate Fund – GCF that was approved and submitted on 21st February 2023,” Minister Samuda said.

The Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) Facility, designed by the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), is a country-owned initiative aimed to promote green and climate–resilient communities and local economies by establishing a standard, an internationally recognized country-based mechanism to channel climate finance to local authorities for its effective use.
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Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Clifford. E. Warmington says that $15 million will be allocated to undertake emergency repair work on the Seaman Valley to Millbank road network in Eastern Portland.

The announcement came today (May 3, 2023) during a tour of the constituency at the invitation of Member of Parliament, Ann-Marie Vaz.

“The condition of that road is one of the worst I have seen. Based on the deplorable condition of the road, I asked the NWA team to scope a $15 million emergency project for it right now, to try and make the surface a little better to use…The government will release $15 million as an emergency to address the situation. We did a $30 million in Phase 1 and now I’ve asked the team to do the next $50 million as Phase 2″.

Minister Warmington gave the assurance that the roads in areas toured, will be addressed.

“I can assure the Member of Parliament, Ann Marie Vaz, and the people of Eastern Portland that the government listens, will react and all of these projects will be addressed this year including this one (Norwich Heights) even though it is not a part of the NWA network”, he advised.

Among the areas toured were Wain Road, Ginger House, Cornwall Barracks, Norwich Heights, the Toms Hope breakaway, the Ginger House breakaway, the Comfort Castle breakaway and Alligator Church Bridge to Belleview.

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Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, will be leading the Jamaican delegation at the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) – European Union (EU) Ministerial Meeting on Environment and Climate Change 2023, scheduled for May 5.

The meeting will be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, and will present an opportunity for the exchange of views on areas for strengthened collaboration and partnership between the two regions.

It is expected to follow the Bureau Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean on May 4.

“The Ministerial Meeting will consider the outcomes of the 5th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA5), the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 27), the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 15), the 2nd session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution (INC-2), and other relevant international processes,” Minister Samuda outlined.

Additional invited officials include the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries; Ministers of Environment of the LAC & the EU; representatives from the EU delegation in Costa Rica; representatives from DG Environment, DG for Climate Action; staff of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and others.

This event is part of the bi-regional CELAC-EU Roadmap adopted in Buenos Aires in October 2022, and will feed into the preparations for the EU-CELAC Summit in Brussels on 17-18 July which will reinforce bi-regional partnership at the highest level.
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Prime Minister the Most Hon. Andrew Holness today (April 28) handed over five new houses to persons in Campbell Town, Central Kingston, and West Albion Meadows in St. Thomas, under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP).

Three units were handed over to Ms. Leisha Brown, Ms. Lisa Brown and Mr. Lloyd White who were displaced by a fire that gutted their homes at 1 Goodwin Avenue in Campbell Town, Central Kingston in 2020.  Mr. White had resorted to living in an old, abandoned vehicle in the area.

In his remarks, Prime Minister Holness noted that the NSHP is designed to help persons who are in immediate distress.

“This is one such case where a residence which housed several households, was destroyed by fire and what we have decided to do is to rebuild on the same property. But we didn’t just build without first of all establishing who has the right to build and occupy the property because the government doesn’t want to contribute to the informal, haphazard and irregular settlement of land, and so we ensured that we were able to establish ownership and occupancy through a formal legal process, and so I am satisfied”, he stated,

The Prime Minister added that the recipients now have an asset that will help them to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

“There is a base from which their children can build. You know the big difference it makes to have housing, shelter, that if it is raining, if there is flooding, that you are protected from the elements; that you can come home in comfort; that there is some level of privacy and security that you can study and do your homework.  You know how that lifts the spirits and gives confidence to our children and allows them to focus and study? We take all these things for granted but it is so very important”.

At West Albion, two units were handed over to recipients Louise Williams and Paula Williams.

Prime Minister Holness explained that a robust selection process devoid of partisan considerations is in place, to ensure that only deserving persons who are most in need receive the houses,

“This is why we call it the HOPE programme. It is about restoring the legitimacy of government as the agent of change in the lives of people…  We are really seeking to deal with those who are living in the worst conditions”, the Prime Minister said.

The New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) which falls under the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation operates under the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) Programme conceptualized by the Prime Minister and implemented in 2018.

Its aim is to improve the quality of housing for Jamaica’s neediest citizens.

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Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, disclosed that an allocation of J$841.5 million was made in the Constant Spring Water Treatment Plant.

“A key component of this treatment facility are the two (2) clear water storage reservoirs consisting of 5 individual cells: Nos. 2, 3, 4 & 5, which are combined while cell No. 1 is a ‘stand-alone’ structure. The works on cell No. 1 were completed at a cost of $447 million and the other cells received works totaling $394.5 million,” Minister Samuda outlined.

His remarks came yesterday (April 27, 2023), during a tour of the treatment plant where he expressed satisfaction at the work done to upgrade the Constant Spring Treatment Plant in St. Andrew.

“In 2019, the infrastructure was so bad that the roofs collapsed.  It prompted us to do significant work in the area”, he noted.

“Prior to that investment, this facility would have leaked 4 and a half million gallons a day.  Certainly, in a drought like the one we are having, we would not have been able to afford four and a half million gallons a day of leakage”, stated Minister Samuda.

The Minister stated that the upgrading work to the tanks and the facility will benefit approximately 40,000 persons along Constant Spring Road down to Cross Roads and along Washington Boulevard to Pembroke Hall.

Minister Samuda added that the investment forms part of the broader strategy to ensure the complete renovation, restoration, and the creation of a “renaissance” for the water sector in Jamaica.

However, he noted that the process would take several billion dollars and support from partners such as Vinci, local and overseas contractors, as well as support from the capital markets.

The Constant Spring Water Treatment Plant is one of the NWC’s major production facilities with a design capacity of 20 million imperial gallons per day.

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Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the Government will be pursuing amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act and the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act in this financial year.

Speaking yesterday (April 25, 2023) during the launch of the regional CoralCarib Project at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Minister Samuda said the amendments to are geared towards stemming the critical decline in the island’s coral reef structures.

“These amendments will facilitate increased fines and penalties which will assist greatly in deterring activities that are detrimental to the health of our reefs,” Minister Samuda said.

The Minister also disclosed that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is developing and implementing the Action Plan for Corals and Reefs in Jamaica (2018-2023).

“The Plan seeks to conserve the island’s reef structures so that they can continue to provide vital ecosystem functions and services” he noted.

Jamaica is a member of several regional and international initiatives that support the management of the country’s marine and coastal environments including its biodiversity.

Minister Samuda stated that “the CoralCarib Project will complement the measures that the government is currently pursuing, to conserve the island’s marine and coastal ecosystems, particularly our coral reefs”.

The CoralCarib Project launch was held under the theme “A Climate Smart Approach to Coral Reef Conservation in the Caribbean.  It aims to improve marine biodiversity in 1,871 hectares of priority coral reef ecosystems in four targeted countries, namely Jamaica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

The Project has received grant funding totaling 6.3million Euros from the International Climate Initiative and the Federal Government of Germany to execute its initiatives.

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