Simpson Miller: Jamaica to Restart “Inner City Renewal” Initiative

Above: Kingston (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica’s government will be restarting a programme from the former Jamaica Labour Party administration aimed at upgrading downtown Kingston.

The project will restart in the 2014/2015 fiscal year, featuring a housing unit construction drive.

“No one can disagree that the Inner City Housing project has positively transformed the lives of persons in some communities, such as Monaltrie, Denham Town, Majesty Gardens and Trench Town,” Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said in a government release.

The project had completed the construction of housing units in areas including Spanish Town Road, Little King Street and Denham Town.

The move came after what Simpson Miller said was a “reassessment” of the suspended programme.

Simpson Miller’s government has been pushing public spending, particularly home construction.

Thus far, the government stimulus has yet show any palpable impact on the economy, which is projected to post the lowest growth of any CARICOM country this year at 0.5 percent, according to the most recent World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fund.

That is higher than a recent World Bank project, however, which pegged Jamaica’s growth at 0.1 percent this year.