Published:Wednesday | May 3, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Discussions on new toll rates for the North-South Highway are still ongoing, but the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) is warning that Jamaica must be prepared to accepts the "risks" for pushing to slash rates.NROCC is the 15-...
Published:Thursday | May 4, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
The country's main anti-corruption body says that it will now have to intensify a probe into the US$720 million North-South Highway contract between the Government and the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC).Contractor General Dirk Harrison...
Published:Wednesday | May 3, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Commercial property owners are still uncomfortable with the levels of increase in the rates used to calculate their tax, but there is no call for a further revision to the new regime, the Realtors' Association of Jamaica has said.The realtors and...
Published:Wednesday | May 3, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Most of the 1,200 acres of prime lands that the Jamaican Government has already provided to the Chinese developers of the North-South Highway was not valuated, and that is "untidy", a lawmaker has told the state agency representing the Government's...
Published:Monday | May 1, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
One-third of the entities registered with the Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) do not file their annual returns, and Judith Ramlogan, the registrar of companies, believes this is a major problem that needs to be addressed.According to Ramlogan, the...
Published:Monday | May 1, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Dubbing himself "The Great Implementer", Education Minister Ruel Reid is reporting that schools have been managing well and without the chaos he claims was predicted by naysayers critical of the abolition of the auxiliary fee system.And he appears...
Published:Monday | May 1, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
The Jamaican Government, by intervening to help financially challenged students sit exams, could be setting a bad precedent if it does not work out a sustainable mechanism, Professor Archibald McDonald, principal of the Mona campus of the University...
Published:Sunday | April 30, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Opposition Senators have accused the Government and some of its agencies, including the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), of not being aggressive enough in ensuring that Jamaica makes use of its portion of a £300-million UK grant (J$54-billion)...
Published:Saturday | April 29, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Information belonging to more than 14,000 Jamaican students from 16 local high schools being stored on an online database hosted in the United States is being held hostage by hackers who are demanding US$5,000 to release the data.The system, which...
Published:Friday | April 28, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Three hundred and four children (0-17) have been murdered over the last five years, and Education Minister Ruel Reid reports that schools, where some of the incidents have happened, are now seeing a decline in violence.He made the disclosure...
Published:Wednesday | April 26, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Jamaican professionals who have claimed that their services to help construct a new Parliament building could be used on a voluntary basis will have the chance to bid for government contracts at later stages of the project, the authorities have said...
Published:Wednesday | April 26, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Targeting corruption and restoring public order have topped National Security Minister Robert Montague's list of 10 "basic elements" he believes must be addressed to secure Jamaica."As a nation, we must take back control of our public spaces," he...
Published:Wednesday | April 26, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
The police are to "swiftly" probe reports that criminals are scamming elderly Jamaicans out of their National Insurance Scheme (NIS) benefits - often, their only source of income - the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) has said.Labour...
Published:Tuesday | April 25, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Don't expect "strong" opposition from the Jamaican diaspora in the United States to legislation proposed to tax remittances sent to countries like Jamaica, Irwine Clare, a key New York member, said.The tax would be used to fund the wall President...
Published:Monday | April 24, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
The Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) says there is no "merit" to students' claim that they were not given notice that failure to pay fees would end with them not being able to sit exams.According to the university, the first...
Published:Monday | April 24, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Some residents of west Kingston who received compensation arising from the deadly May 2010 security-force operation are to get more money based on the preliminary report submitted by a state-appointed compensation committee.But, according to Justice...
Published:Thursday | April 20, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Notice has been served on delinquent property owners in St Elizabeth - one of the parishes with the lowest compliance levels - that for two weeks, starting today, the authorities will be targeting them to cut arrears and help fill a $2-billion gap...
Published:Thursday | April 13, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
The Jamaica Institution of Engineers (JIE) has branded as "unacceptable" a proposal it says has come from the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) for local professionals to participate in the designing of a new parliamentary building on a "voluntary...
Published:Wednesday | April 19, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Five public bodies have been identified for closure while Government, in three months, is to have a timeline for a further reduction in the number of these entities (181) - an effort the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says is needed to minimise...
Published:Wednesday | April 19, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Councillors and political representatives at the parish level are to get their own offices in a $515 million financing arrangement announced Wednesday by Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie.He said $400 million will go towards providing...
Published:Wednesday | April 19, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie has told lawmakers that the corruption cleansing in municipal corporations, formerly parish councils, is almost complete, with audits done in 11 of the authorities.Except that in saying that a comprehensive...
Published:Tuesday | April 18, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
A member of the Andrew Holness-led Cabinet has spoken out, saying Jamaica is not being serious or decisive about whether it will pursue a medical marijuana industry, days after a United States-based advocacy group said Jamaica could embarrassingly...
Published:Monday | April 17, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
George Quallo, 58, takes office today as the 29th commissioner of police amid a 21 per cent hike in murders and growing anticipation for the unveiling of the crime plan that helped him land the top job in the 150-year-old Jamaica Constabulary Force...
Published:Tuesday | April 11, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
The powerful interest groups that led public calls for the Government to review the revised property tax regime implemented on April 1 are expressing satisfaction with the changes announced yesterday, which will see a fall in rates and the level of...
Published:Monday | April 10, 2017 | 12:00 AMJovan Johnson
Changes to the controversial revised property tax regime that have upset landowners, including pensioners and business operators, may see the Government losing approximately $1.5 billion in revenue, Finance Minister Audley Shaw is expected to...
