The new Port Maria Fire Station in St Mary, built at a cost of $258 million, was officially opened and handed over on Friday, bringing improved fire and emergency services to more than 100,000 Jamaicans.

The brand-new facility, spread over a four-building compound, can accommodate up to 80 firefighters and boasts an administrative block, engine bays, male and female dormitories, a conference room, two fire trucks, and emergency management services. It will serve 48 communities in and around the St Mary capital.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in his address at the ceremony, said that “significant investment” has been made in the provision of a “well-built facility that will serve this community for years to come, adequately”.

The Cheswick community, located in St. Thomas, is to benefit from the Rural Development Programme, which is spearheaded by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) have identified 100 households within the community for retrofitting, which will commence shortly.

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) is fully committed to improving the living conditions of the people in Norwood, St. James, which has been earmarked for several major development projects in 2023.

Managing Director, JSIF, Omar Sweeney, indicated that education, water and community facilities will be among the areas of focus in Norwood, which is currently a Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO).

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund's community Christmas tree - lighting ceremony brought cheer among the residents of the seaside community of Cooke Street in Savanna-L-Mar in Westmoreland.

The event, the residents said, brought joy and great hope to the approximately 500 people including women and children who are living in 296 houses.

They said many of them have never participated or witnessed such a ceremony because of the boundaries that are being maintained in the ongoing turf war and gang violence for approximately 40 years.  

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has received the Jamaica Institution of Engineers (JIE) 2022 Engineering Project of the Year Award for the Port Royal Street Coastal Revetment Project.

The $1.3-billion project, which is designed to safeguard the Port Royal Street corridor from the effects of storm surges, entails construction of one kilometre of composite seawall and armour stone revetment structure, upgrading of drainage features, rehabilitation and raising of one kilometre of existing roadway and installation of a 4.7-metre-wide boardwalk to improve the site’s aesthetics and promote recreational activity along the shoreline.