GPS mandatory for PPVs by April 2020

Transport Minister Robert Montague yesterday announced the roll-out of the Government’s Electronic Fleet Management System, which will make it mandatory for public passenger vehicles (PPV) to be fitted with GPS trackers.

Montague said that effective immediately, new applicants will be required to have a GPS tracker on their vehicles in order to obtain a PPV licence.

As of April 1 next year, the GPS tracker system will be mandatory for all public passenger transport operators.

The transport minister made the announcement at a high-level Transport Stakeholders Conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Economic boom will drive R&D – Henry

Jamaica’s improved economic climate should make it more conducive for private-sector entities to invest more in research, Dr Wayne Henry, director general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), has suggested.

Speaking at Wednesday’s opening day of The University of the West Indies, Mona, Research Days, Henry contended that past economic challenges made it difficult for the private sector to pump money into funding research as there were other competing priorities.

“Historically, I would argue, the landscape of private-sector development did not necessarily lend itself to much research initiative and engagement. The types of environment that existed were more about trying to explore low-hanging fruit of establishing trade markets, trying to navigate a local private sector for business that was characterised by quite a bit of macroeconomic imbalances,” Henry said.