PORTLAND, Jamaica – President of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) Mark Golding says, under a future PNP Government, his administration would pay some private taxi drivers and bus operators in exchange for them transporting school children in rural Jamaica.
Golding made the pledge at a recent PNP meeting in Portland West where the party’s representative, Doreen Forbes Campbell, is seeking to unseat Jamaica Labour Party heavyweight, Daryl Vaz.
Golding said the PNP will target the operators of “Probox and AR Wagon” motor vehicles for assistance if they agree to transport school children as he articulated the PNP’s plan to improve transportation of children in rural Jamaica.
He intensified his criticism of the Government’s plan to by September this year bring in what Transport Minister Vaz has described as over 100 safe and secure school buses with tracking devices in order to establish a rural transportation system.
“A see you MP coming with his old bus plan. These old buses that he wants to say will provide a transport solution for school children. Our solution is to empower the taxi drivers and bus drivers of Jamaica so with a subsidy, so we will pay them so they can carry di pickney dem and we starting with twenty thousand families and as the economy improves we going to grow it,” Golding stated.
The PNP President provided further details of what he described as his plan for school children in rural Jamaica who face transportation woes.
“The transport operators, the private operators, di likkle man dem who have dem Probox and dem AR Wagon, they will be the beneficiaries of the money dat going to run,” Golding concluded.
Golding also identified a depressed area of Portland West known as ‘Diamond’ where he said the PNP plans to develop housing solutions for up to 500 Jamaicans if it forms Government.
Golding says he was shown the area by the PNP aspirant in the constituency and the developmental idea came to him.
“Where there is a swamp land and dump up that land usable, so we can use it for the five hundred houses that we want to build for the people in Portland,” Golding reasoned.