Post Cabinet Press Briefing Report- Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Post Cabinet Press Briefing Report- Wednesday, April 30, 2025

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Senator the Hon. Dana Morris-Dixon

Good morning, everyone, it is Wednesday, April 30, 2025, and I want to welcome you to our Post Cabinet Press Briefing and I have a lot of people to acknowledge. I have to acknowledge the Honorable Robert Nesta Morgan, our Minister with Responsibility for Works, who is our main guest today. We also have Dr. Kassan Troupe, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information and as always, that is the best ministry.

We have Mrs. Terryann Thomas-Gayle, our Acting Chief Education Officer in that wonderful ministry and we also have joining us in in a few minutes will be Dr. Winsome Gordon, the Head of the Jamaica Teaching Council. We also have Nicole Patrick Shaw, the Chairman of the National Child Month Committee and Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Jamaica, other members of the media who are here, Jamaicans watching at home and abroad, good morning to you and it’s a very good morning.

Today and tomorrow, we have grade six PEP exams, and I want to thank all of the teachers who’ve been working so hard with our students. I want to thank the parents. I know many parents are at the schools standing outside very nervous. I was one of those last year that was stressed out and so I understand, and I commiserate with all the parents going through it today, but I know our students have been prepared well. Their teachers have been preparing them very well and I know that they will do very well in the exams today.

Taking the exam in this sitting, we have 33,434 children taking the exam between today and tomorrow. That’s 17,042 boys and 16,392 girls and we also have 45 students with special needs who are doing the exams and I’m very happy when I see the numbers and seeing how inclusive we are in terms of having our students with special needs also taking the exam. In terms of accommodations, special accommodations were granted to 556 students and many people don’t realize that the ministry really works with where our children are and the CEO and her team, they do a fantastic job in ascertaining if students need extra time. For example, if they may need a reader or a shadow with them to help to calm them throughout the exam and also their accommodations including printing the scripts in large print or in braille for those who may need it. So, there’s a lot of work that’s done in terms of accommodating our students and I want to thank the team at all of our regions that are out there today and that have worked really hard to make the exam process go very smoothly.

In terms of crime, I always talk about the crime stats as of April 26, 2025, murders are down 36.6 percent. That is a big, big reduction in crime, and I saw one of our newspapers this morning on the front page saying declaring we are winning and Dr. Chang yesterday in his wonderful presentation in the parliament talked about a lot of the gains we have made. So that’s 36.6 percent down, murders down by 36.6 percent. That means 130 less people than last year lost their lives due to murder. It means 130 less mothers in pain. It is a big number; it is a big deal, and we need to celebrate it.

In addition to that, major crimes are down 18.2 percent. That is 250 less major crimes in our country in the period up to April 26 when you compare it to last year and so those are things to celebrate and every week that we do Post Cabinet, I’m going to celebrate those numbers because they are worth celebrating and also commending our wonderful members of the JCF who are working so hard to keep us safe and have worked tremendously in bringing these numbers down.

I also want to speak to new penalties for murder and yesterday there was a very, very busy sitting of the House. New penalties for murder were passed in the House of Representatives yesterday and so what was passed, and you have to really pay attention to this. There were amendments made to the Offences Against the Person Act, the Criminal Justice Administration Act and the Child Care and Protection Act.

These amendments represent a vital and deliberate response to the levels of violent crime in our society, particularly those involving the most heinous offense which is murder. In respect of the Offences Against the Person Amendment Bill, for non-capital murder, the mandatory minimum sentence for imprisonment is now 30 years. That’s 30 years for non-capital murder under the Offences Against the Person Act.

For capital murder, we have increased the mandatory minimum sentence to be served before being eligible for parole from 20 years to 50 years. That is us saying that we are really serious on crime. We are saying that the victims of murder and of crime matter and that the penalties have to be very, very strong.

We’ve also seen under that same act, the Offences Against the Person Act, we’re increasing the mandatory minimum sentence to be served before being eligible for parole where the sentence is imprisonment for life. We’re moving that from 15 years to 40 years. And finally, where a term of years has been imposed, the period that must be served before becoming eligible for parole is 20 years.

In terms of the Criminal Justice Administration Amendment Bill, there were some amendments that were recommended here that have been passed and were passed yesterday. And it increases the term of years to be deemed as life imprisonment from 30 years to 50 years where the offense committed is murder. The starting point for calculating the reduction in the sentence is usually life imprisonment.

And the aim of this amendment is to maintain an incentive scheme for defendants to plead guilty but ensuring that the reduced sentence is not inordinately low. And so, we know that we will still give that credit if you do plead guilty, but this term that is still served needs to be sufficiently long to serve as a disincentive for doing this. So, the Prime Minister said this was a priority and it is a priority, and we have done what we said we were going to do. No one can think that I can commit murder, and I can go and cool out for a bit in jail and then come back out after 15 years or so and commit another murder. We are saying that is no longer the case. And we’re very serious about this. We’re very serious about preserving life. We’re very serious about the rights of the victims. And the victims are often voiceless in what happens. And so this is us saying to Jamaica, we hear the cries of all of the people who have been victims, and their families have been victims to murder. And we are very much saying to Jamaica, we will not stand for it and the penalties demonstrate that. I know that Minister Chuck will be speaking a lot more on these changes. It happened during Parliament yesterday, but there will be a lot more that will be provided in relation to these changes.

There are some of the numbers there on the screen in terms of attendance at the Easter camps. And as we’ve said before, we’re focusing on some schools that have had the performance being below where we would want to. And so, we’ve been intervening as a ministry there. And so those were the schools that had the camps. I went to one of the camps just to see how it was going. And all the students were not there. 40% of the students in those schools actually showed up for the camp. What it says is that 60% of our students did not show up for the camp, even though it was put on for them.

It was really very good when I spoke to the students who were in the camps, they said that they were able to get a lot of the areas that they were struggling with in Math dealt with during the camp because we had our Ministry experts were at the schools working with the math teachers. It was really beautiful to see and our teachers giving up their Easter holiday to come out to work with the students in this way was really very good. And so we’re hoping that over time other parents will see it important to send their children during the holidays to take advantage of these camps. It is for their benefit. We want to see them thrive and do well. That is why we do these camps. And so please participate in them. And I thank all the parents who sent their children out, all the students who were there during their holiday and really starting to work through some of the issues they had in Math and to really prepare for the CXC exams that are coming up.

 

Hon. Robert Nesta Morgan

 

National Road Infrastructure Projects

 

  1. Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP): Transforming Connectivity

SCHIP – US$575 Million is 96% complete 

Objective – to open the Southcoast to facilitate development

  • Part A (May Pen to Williamsfield Toll Road Extension) – Open to the public
  • Part B(ii) (Harbour View to Yallahs Bridge, four-lane highway) – Open to the public.
  • Part B (iii & iv) (Yallahs to Port Antonio and Morant Bay to Cedar Valley) two-lane roadway and are divided into three tranches. Tranches 1 and 2 are substantially complete, with minor outstanding works. Tranche 3 are now 70 % complete.

Expected full completion of SCHIP by June 2025.

 

  1. Special CAPEX Programme: Urban Renewal and Future-Proofing Infrastructure

CAPEX – J$16 Billion

Objective – Improving urban transportation in the Kingston Metropolitan Region (Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine).

  • Grange Lane ($925 Million) – 92% complete with planned completion in June 2025.
  • Braeton Road to part of Hellshire Main Road ($2.4 Billion) – Contract awarded with schedule commencement in June 2025

Other CAPEX projects, include:

  • East Kings House Road/Lady Musgrave Road
  • Arthur Wint Drive/Tom Red Cam/Camp Road
  • New Entry to Portmore via Mandela
  • Sandy Gully Bridge Widening on Blvd.

Feasibility Studies are in the final stages of the Public Investment Management System (PIMS)

 

  1. Bridge Programme: Strengthening National Resilience

 

PRIORITY and ACCELERATED Bridge Programmed

 

There are two programmes running concurrently:

  1. Priority Bridge Programme (financed by GoJ) – 7 new Bridges – $1.5 Billion
  2. Accelerated Bridge Renewal Project (financed – by UKEF) – 55 New Bridges

 

  • The Troy Bridge – $230 million, is 50% complete, with completion expected before the end of this summer.
  • The Spring Village Bridge in St. Catherine, valued at $250 million, is at 5% progress, with pile-driving work underway.
  • The Craigmill Bridge in Portland, valued at $170 million, is at the procurement stage, with tenders out for both the vehicular ($140 million) and pedestrian ($30 million) bridges.
  • The feasibility studies have been completed for Southwood in Clarendon, Barham in Westmoreland, and Guanaboa Vale in St. Catherine. These structures are now moving into the PIMS appraisal phase.
  • The Mahogany Vale Bridge in St. Thomas is being repackaged and retendered to facilitate completion.

 

  1. Port Antonio Bypass: A Strategic Investment

Phase 1 – Cost – US$81M (Norwich to Turtle Harbour)

Objective: To improve travel efficiency, reduce congestion, and support regional economic growth.

Expected Start in June 2025.

 

5. Strategic Investments to enhance development

Thirteen (13) Corridors

Name of Project  

Parish
Palisados Airport RAB to bottom of Mountain View Ave Kingston
Palisados Airport RAB to Port Royal Kingston
Spanish Town Road (Six Miles to Darling Street) Kingston
 Washington Boulevard (Six Miles to Molynes Road) Kingston
 Dunrobin Avenue Extension to East Kings House Road (Overpass of Constant Spring Road) Kingston
 Red Hills Road (Dunrobin Ave to Perkins Boulevard) Kingston
Molynes Road (Eastwood Park Rd to Washington Boulevard) St. Andrew
Old Hope Road St. Andrew
Breaton Parkway St. Catherine
Annatto Bay Bypass St. Mary
Port Maria Bypass St. Mary
Lucea Bypass Hanover
Hopewell/Sandy Bay Bypass Hanover

 

     6. REACH: Addressing Road Deterioration from Hurricane Beryl and TS Raphael

 

Phase 1: J$1.5 Billion

Phase 2: J$630 Million

Phase 3: J$2 Billion

Phase 4: J$630 Million

TOTAL J$4.7 Billion – Progress is approx.. 80% with completion scheduled for June 2025

 

     7. SPARK: A $45 Billion Game-Changer (Road and Waterline)

Three (3) Year Programme

Start – January 2025

Progress – 38 Roads

Schedule – By mid-May we should commence 63 Roads (All Constituencies)

Contractor – CHEC with its subcontractors