KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Government has allocated $24 million to the Board of Supervision for the construction of drop-in centres for homeless people in parishes that are currently without this facility.

Details are provided in the 2017-18 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.

Specifically, the project aims to construct two drop-in centres for homeless people in St Mary and St Elizabeth during the 2017/18 fiscal year. 

The Ministry of Local Government and Community Development is also undertaking the improvement of the Emergency Communication System in Jamaica.

The project, which is being implemented by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) at a cost of $10 million, aims to enhance Jamaica’s Public Safety, National Security and Disaster/Emergency Communication System for improved preparedness, response and recovery from the impact of an incident at national, parish and community levels. 

It also aims to create a more effective communication system (voice and transfer data) among key stakeholders.  

For next fiscal year, project preparation will enable the development of a national emergency communication system to coordinate incident response among the various critical agencies of Government and volunteers, and allow emergency response agencies and responders to communicate via a common wireless platform.

Funding for the projects is being provided through the Consolidated Fund.