IT COULD BE a bleak Christmas and a not-so-prosperous new year for workers at a number of State agencies.
Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Finance this week revealed that the Freundel Stuart Government had taken a decision to close a number of high-profile agencies as part of its latest step to cut spending and close a huge fiscal gap.
It is also considering outsourcing all roadside weeding and debushing to private contractors, work now undertaken by personnel in the Drainage Division of the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport and Works.
Two of the best recognised statutory agencies identified for closure are the Urban Development Commission (UDC) and the Rural Development Commission (RDC), both formed under former Prime Minister Owen Arthur to more expeditiously deliver critical services to the poorest Barbadians, primarily in housing.
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