$96 billion in missed opportunities

According to Jamaica Observer (General News), NEARLY $100 billion allocated to Jamaica’s capital budget over the past decade went unspent, leaving major road, water, and health infrastructure projects severely underfunded and depriving Jamaicans across the island of critical improvements, Opposition Senator Ramon Small-Ferguson has charged. He made the claim during his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate on October 9, arguing that the Government’s failure to utilise the allocated funds has hampered investment in essential public infrastructure. According to Small- Ferguson, the economic reforms that started under the Portia Simpson Miller Administration, when Dr Peter Phillips was finance minister, created the fiscal space from which the current Andrew Holness-led Government has benefited. But, he lamented what he called “missed opportunities”. Citing that the country’s capital budget finances roads, water s