Gov’t dispatches $90-M in COVID grants to PPV operators

Grants totalling approximately $90 million have been dispatched for payment to 3,600 public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators under the Government's COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke, said the allocations have been sent to LASCO Financial Services Limited, through which the payments will be disbursed. He advised that once LASCO gets the payment details, notification texts will be sent to the beneficiaries, who will receive $25,000 each.

"I'm expecting it to happen this week, if not [by] Monday. The taxi [and PPV] operators, the 3,600 of them, can [then] go to their LASCO Financial outlet and collect their $25,000," Clarke said. He was speaking during Thursday's launch of the Development Bank of Jamaica $700-million entertainment and transport loan facilities for stakeholders affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, at AC Marriott Kingston Hotel. Clarke said that the Government has revised the date by which applicants must have a valid road licence to August 31, to enable more transport operators to access the provision. He informed that when the facility was launched, there was a requirement for qualified applicants to have a valid Transport Authority road licence issued no later than April 30.

"Now, there are some taxi operators who paid up a little bit after April 30 or, in some instances, they actually went in before. But when they got the printout of their licence, the date [was] in May, due to no fault of their own," he explained, noting that a policy change was made to facilitate those individuals.

Clarke invited transport operators who have not yet applied to visit the CARE website on the finance ministry's platform and fill out the application form.