Several community projects benefited from subgrants under the European Union (EU) Banana Grant initiative - the total amount expended approximately $11.4 million.

Subgrant projects should be completed by March 15, 2010. The signing off of the subgrants was undertaken at the Department of Local Government, 85 Hagley Park Road, yesterday.

On December 23, 2008, the EU made available $126.7 million and the Jamaican Government, through the six parish councils beneficiaries/partners contributed $85.13 million to the initiative.

minimum funds allowed

The minimum amount of funds that a project is allowed to access is $114, 000, while the maximum is $1.14 million.

St James Parish Council and its five parish council partners of Clarendon, St Catherine, St Thomas, Portland and St Mary are beneficiaries.

"The purpose of the EU grant is to providing sustainable community-based benefits, and this covers several areas - water, roads, basic schools, health facilities - and will also have an impact upon the human resources of the various communities," said Charles Sinclair, mayor of Montego Bay and chairman of the St James Parish Council.

facilitating better access

Sinclair added that, "the overall objective of the project is to supplement and complement the Jamaican Government's poverty reduction and local sustainable development planning strategies by way of facilitating better access by the poor to certain benefits in rural areas in the five parishes".

The target group will include six parish councils that have partnered with the Department of Local Government. "It is estimated that approximately 10, 830 direct final beneficiaries, will be impacted by the project," Mayor Sinclair pointed out.

These persons will benefit through the undertaking of several different projects. These include 20 water projects, 10 road projects, agro-based storage and processing, health and education facilities projects.

ryon.jones@gleanerjm.com