ZOSOs Extended In Denham Town And Mt. Salem

Jamaica News: The Zones of Special Operations (ZOSOs) in Denham Town, Kingston; and Mount Salem, St. James, will be extended by a further 60 days to February 18, 2020 and March 9, 2020, respectively.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday (December 10), approved two Resolutions for the extensions, which were moved by National Security Minister, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang.

In his address, the Minister said the security forces continue to maintain a protracted presence in both Zones, which are currently in the ‘Build Phase’ of the strategy.

“Whilst the social intervention takes primacy at this stage, the presence of the security forces is necessary to achieve the broader aim of increased citizen security and public safety,” Dr. Chang said.

He noted that the objectives of the security forces at this time will also continue to facilitate the conditions for social intervention, while concurrently achieving: recovery of weapons, ammunition and contraband; apprehension of wanted persons; reduction in lawlessness; and bolstering intelligence activities.

Dr. Chang informed that since the Build Phase was declared in March 2018 for Denham Town, more than 22 targeted interventions have been completed, benefiting more than 2,500 residents

directly and indirectly over 8,000 residents.
These, he said, include health services, infrastructure upgrade, education-based interventions, youth development, behaviour modification and entrepreneurship.

“Significant works to improve the community infrastructure are ongoing with respect to the transformation of the physical environment, including expanding the solid waste management programme and improvement to water and sewerage infrastructure. These are programmed to be completed by March 2020,” the Minister noted.

Regarding Mount Salem, Dr. Chang informed that the social interventions have been anchored in the Build Phase since February 2018.

“Since that period, there have been significant achievements with respect to services deployed in the community, and an overall improvement in community safety and security,” he said.

He noted that activities concentrated in the Mount Salem community were highly community-based, adding that major infrastructural developments included the National Works Agency’s (NWA’s) road improvements in the community.

Additionally, the NWA has, to date, committed more than $100 million in road improvement works in Mount Salem.

“This brings the cumulative overall value of projects executed in the community to in excess of $180 million,” Dr. Chang said.

Source: JIS News