THE Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has secured a US$29-million World Bank loan to support an ambitious inner-city improvement project, which is to begin as soon as contracts have been awarded.

This loan, which was approved in June, was supplemented by a US$650,000 grant from the Japanese government for preparatory work for the project

The five-year project will have as its primary objective the reduction of crime and violence, rehabilitation and construction of sanitation, drainage and water supply facilities, solid waste collection and sewage disposal.

Rehabilitation of recreational areas and public spaces, improvement in pedestrian and non-motorised transport as well as improvement in street lighting will also form part of the work to be undertaken.

JSIF managing director, Scarlett Gillings told the Rotary Club of Kingston at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston last week that the project would benefit a dozen inner-city communities islandwide. They include:

. Whitfield Town, Federal Gardens, Jones Town and Passmore Gardens (Dunkirk) in Kingston and St Andrew;

. Central Village, Tawes Pen, Lauriston, Bog Walk in St Catherine; and

. Bucknor, Rectory Lands and Flankers in St James.

Gillings did not identify the projects to be implemented in the targeted communities but said that JSIF had already worked with them to identify priority needs.

She told the Observer later that JSIF would also purchase four garbage trucks and a number of skips for the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWA), adding that the purchase had been put to tender.

“The ambitious yet challenging project will see improvement in the access, use and quality of socio-economic infrastructure and will embrace strong community participation to build social capital and forge trust,” Gillings noted.

She added that JSIF would work to ensure that there was no leakage of funds to the wealthy and that the maximum size of projects to be funded would not exceed $13 million. At the same time, she said that communities would be liable to contribute between five and 25 per cent in cash or kind to the project cost.