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THE Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme Company Ltd (CEPEP) and the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) have been eliminated.

In his budget presentation for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which he delivered in Parliament yesterday, Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo said that Government is committed to replacing them with full-time jobs.

“This Government is committed to ending the State funding of criminal gangs by eliminating the CEPEP and URP and replacing them with providing full-time, better paid jobs. To this end, I have established an Employment Fund in the Ministry of Finance with $475 million, which will be utilised together with the $310 million in the Unemployment Fund for job creation. The Honourable Prime Minister will provide greater detail on this very critical job creation exercise during her contribution,” Tancoo said.