JLP candidate agrees JDIP should be on budget

A young Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate has suggested that the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) should have been placed on the budget.

The suggestion by the ruling party's candidate is in agreement with calls from the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) for the Government to do so.

Responding to a question posed during last night’s National Political Debate about whether the JDIP should have been placed on the budget, the JLP’s candidate for Eastern St Andrew, Dr Saphire Longmore-Dropinsky, seemed to agree that the programme needed parliamentary oversight.

She says there were aspects of the programme that went wrong.

The PNP has been insisting that the programme should be brought on to the budget to allow for parliamentary scrutiny of the expenditure under the programme. The party has also called for a review of the contract for the project implementers, China Harbour.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness took over temporary control of the $400 million programme last month, following an audit by the Auditor General, which revealed several management flaws.

Prime Minister Holness has since outlined several plans to reform the programme, including reforming the contracting process and conducting a forensic audit, the results of which will be made public.