Gov't to drive JEEP to Riverton

THE GOVERNMENT'S much-talked-about emergency employment programme is to drive through the Riverton landfill.

Noel Arscott, the minister of local government, told the House of Representatives yesterday that the Government would be looking to streamline jobs at the dump.

"I was shocked by the number of persons that I saw on the landfill the times I have been there," Arscott said.

"It is something we are going to use the JEEP programme to address," he added in an announcement which was met with laughter by Opposition members.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Arscott shouted as he attempted to regain the attention of the House.

JEEP is the acronym for the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme, which the Government intends to use as a vehicle for job creation.

Workshops on the cards

"Minister Davies is coming here with a full scale. I am going to give you a little part of it and I hope Minister Davies, the minister of transport and works, will not be upset with me," Arscott said.

"We have, for example, the disposing of numerous computers and electronic equipment in the landfill. These are valuable things. We are going to set up workshops so that youngsters can disassemble them so that we can utilise those valuable parts such as the gold and other precious metals that are part of the components of these electronic equipment."

Dr Omar Davies, the driver of the JEEP, has promised to outline the elements of the project in the Parliament shortly.

Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has said $4 billion has been identified for the emergency employment programme.