Montague proposes $20b infrastructure improvement project

MEMBER OF Parliament (MP) for St Mary Western Robert Montague has proposed a $20-billion infrastructure development programme that targets communities, housing schemes, farm roads, bridges, drains, and river training.

Making his contribution to the 2022/23 Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Montague identified three sources from which the Government could derive the funds for the project annually.

“The sources of funding for my solution are: a portion of the unused recurrent balances from agencies, departments or ministries; reducing the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service’s spending on consultants and studies for two years; [or] by using Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) profits,” he outlined.

“If in the midst of the pandemic the BOJ could hand over $30 billion in profits in order to craft a supplementary budget. Can you imagine the profit, now that we are recovering stronger?” Montague argued.

He said that the funds should be allocated to the National Works Agency and municipal corporations.

“However, a portion of these funds must be reserved for constituencies, to deal with local priorities. An equal minimum amount should be allocated per constituency and additional funds given based on parish council divisions, and population size based on the voters list,” Montague added.

JIS