Youth get axe - Development projects for young people receive cuts in supplementary Budget
Published:Wednesday | March 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
Youth activities suffered heavily on Finance Minister Audley Shaw's chopping block, figures contained in the second supplementary estimates indicate.
Some $40 million has been sliced from the Ministry of Education's Capital B budget which was set aside for the Youth Development Programme. The programme has been cut from $136 million to $96 million. Another $30 million, which had been set aside for youth development, has been cut from the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports.
Shaw's second supplementary estimates indicate that the Budget has been cut to $497 billion, a reduction of $6.3 billion from $503.7 billion.
The Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament will today begin reviewing the revised estimates. Shaw has asked that the committee furnish the House with a report next Tuesday.
Biggest cuts in education
The revised estimates show that Government spent an additional $25 million on construction and improvement works at the Twickenham Park police training facility.
It also shows that the Ministry of Education suffered the biggest cut, losing $1 billion from its recurrent budget and $503 million from the capital budget.
The increased allocation for the payment of utility was a recurrent theme in the estimates with several ministries and departments given money to clear outstanding bills.
Meanwhile, the recurrent expenditure for the Ministry of Finance has been reduced by $1.2 billion. This involves a $1.1-billion reduction in contingencies, $500 million of which was set aside for the National Water Commission and $500 million for the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).
Some $500 million which was reallocated from the finance ministry has been given to the Department of Local Government to pay the JPS for street lighting. The departments received an additional $9 million to pay an outstanding bill at the NWC.
At the same time, the Office of the Contractor General has benefited from an additional $9.8 million, $4.2 million of which was used to purchase a motor vehicle.
The e-Learning Jamaica Project, which operates out of the Office of the Prime Minister, has had its capital budget allocation reduced from $1.2 billion to $630 million, while $36 million has been taken from the Universal Access Fund.
JSIF budget reduced
The Capital B budget of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has also been reduced from $2.2 billion to $1.9 billion.
The Jamaica HIV/AIDS prevention and Control II, funded by the World Bank, has been cut by $20 million from $268 million.
A grant of $28 million to the Citrus Company of Jamaica has been included in the revised estimates for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The Ministry of Transport and Works has seen several of its projects affected by the revised estimates. Among those impacted are the Palisadoes Shoreline project, which has been reduced by $74 million; the Washington Boulevard Corridor Widening project, which has had $169 million cut, from $840 million; and Tropical Storm Gustav rehabilitation works have been cut by $38.6 million.
Meanwhile, the Bogue Road is to get a further $43 million; the Transport Infrastructure Programme, another $50 million; and the Northern Jamaica Development Project, an additional $193 million to spend on land and structures.
The Bogue Road in St James was budgeted to cost $1.4 billion. At the start of this fiscal year, $500 million was given to the project for contingency and fluctuations. Parliament in December approved an additional $700 million to be set aside for work on the project.