THE House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a further withdrawal of $496 million from the Capital Development Fund (CDF) to finance the budget.

This withdrawal will bring to just under $3 billion the total amount withdrawn from the CDF – funded by the Bauxite Levy – since 2006 to finance the budget as well as development projects in the mined-out areas, Finance Minister Omar Davies told the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Davies said that the revenue estimates for this fiscal year, which ends in just over a week’s time, made provision for $2.9 billion to be transferred from the CDF to the Consolidated Fund. The $496 million, he said, represents the remainder of the amount provided for in the estimates, as $2.5 billion was withdrawn earlier this year.

He said that this left a total of $515 million in the CDF at the end of February.

Opposition spokesman on finance Audley Shaw, however, disputed the spending of some of funds in the mined-out bauxite areas. He said that despite assurances given to MPs that their constituencies would benefit from the bauxite development programme, there has been no expenditure in these areas.

Shaw said that the Opposition had consistently made the House aware of its concerns about the need for the expenditure of these funds in bauxite areas, and reminded the House that he had tabled a motion seeking to have more of these funds funnelled back into the areas for social and economic programmes.

The Opposition spokesman accused the government of deliberately preventing his motion from being debated and served notice that as soon as the new session of Parliament was convened, he intended to table the motion again and expected the speaker’s personal intervention to ensure that it is debated.

The CDF, said Shaw, had over the years not performed in terms of the purposes for which it was established.

“This year the minister is taking out nearly $3 billion from the fund, and what portion has been spent on capital development, either through equity partnership with NIBJ or through the bauxite development programme? And what has gone into the Consolidated Fund to ensure the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, by way of the high interest rate policies pursued by the minister?” Shaw asked.

He said that the matter had grave consequences for mined-out bauxite districts which were now suffering from total neglect.

Shaw also questioned why there was a delay in the reclamation of the mined-out lands.

He said that although the law required that the lands should be reclaimed within three months, in some cases they were not reclaimed for years and US dollar sanctions were not applied.

“The minister of development and the minister responsible for land, must advise this House what steps are being taken to ensure that the bauxite companies are following the rules with respect to land reclamation,” Shaw said.

At the same time, Opposition spokesman on works Pearnel Charles told the House that he would be leading road demonstrations in his North Central Clarendon constituency, if funds from the CDF were not spent in the area.

He said that the mining of bauxite had destroyed many areas of Clarendon, including in his constituency, and that although he had been promised funds over the last three years to improve the community infrastructure, none had been forthcoming.

“If you can’t hear in Parliament, if you can’t see in Parliament, if you can’t help in Parliament, you have to take to the streets, because that is the only thing that this government knows,” Charles warned.

Neighbouring MP, Mike Henry (Central Clarendon), said that there was no planning in place to reflect the utilisation of bauxite, with which the people from the mining areas could be identified.

“That is the kind of cultural and social planning that we have to reinstate,” Henry said. He asked for an update on projects scheduled for Clarendon, including the upgrade of Vernamfield and the New Town development.

They were supported by opposition spokesman on mining, Clive Mullings, who accused the government of selling out the people of Jamaica in the process.

Mullings claimed that “the government has lost its centre. The lack of stewardship is now manifesting itself. The people of this country are suffering, including the people in the mined-out communities. Jamaicans are becoming spectators in their own country,” Mullings said.