(Jamaica Gleaner) More than 5,000 Jamaicans are set to receive short-term employment under the much-touted Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), which yesterday received J$4.2-billion worth of fuel to get the vehicle on the road by early March.
Minister of Transport, Works and Housing Dr Omar Davies yesterday announced in Parliament that the administration had re-scoped some of the projects under the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP). This means that some US$50 million from the controversial programme has been reallocated to partially fund the JEEP.
Davies told the House that the China Ex-Im Bank, which funded JDIP to the tune of US$340 million, has approved the reallocation of funds from JDIP to JEEP. The Jamaican Government will put up US$60 million as its share of funding for the JDIP.
However, the parliamentary Opposition sought to pour cold water on the start-up of JEEP, claiming it was just JDIP renamed.
Rebranded JDIP
In a sotto voce comment, Opposition Leader Andrew Holness said: “It is a rebranding of JDIP.” However, in a sharp retort, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said: “Don’t even try that.”
Davies added: “In addition to the JDIP funding, the administration has identified projects – some new, some existing ones which have been brought forward and expanded, while others are at the concept stage to be implemented in the medium term.”
Opposition spokesman on transport and works, Karl Samuda, said his party supported the objectives of the employment-creation vehicle.
“With respect to the introduction of this programme, JEEP, the Opposition naturally is in full support of the objectives – economic opportunities and employment for the vulnerable is very commendable and that’s what we all share,” Samuda said.
The previous Jamaica Labour Party administration had criticised the JEEP as a crash programme that would not benefit the country in the medium to long term.
Yesterday, the Opposition spokesman urged the Government to ensure that training was a critical component of the new initiative.
But the JEEP, according to Davies, would not just provide short-term jobs but would be extended over the medium term.
For this phase of the programme, the administration has identified J$6.2 billion from a number of public bodies.
Medium-term funding
Contributions for the medium-term funding of JEEP will come from the National Housing Trust, the PetroCaribe Initiative, Ministry of Youth and Culture, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change and the Tourism Enhancement Fund.
Davies said the sums earmarked for JEEP, in the second phase, did not include funding from the European Union for the agricultural sector. This financing, he said, was dependent on the country getting the seal of approval of the IMF, so that these funds could be disbursed.
He said the details of the medium-term programme would be announced early in the new fiscal year, which starts in April.
Davies argued that unemployment among unattached youths was a potential deterrent to growth, given their propensity to become involved in antisocial activities.
“The stark reality is that no government, anywhere in the world, can sit back and hope that the private sector will provide all the solutions,” Davies added.
