'Are we mad?' - Major concerns expressed over planned demolishing of buildings
Published:Wednesday | July 25, 2018 | 12:00 AM
There is a strong push-back from stakeholders to reports that some buildings around National Heroes Circle may have to be demolished for new ones to facilitate the grand development of the area.
Carl Chen, former government town planner and architect, puzzled by reports that buildings would have to be demolished to facilitate a renewal of the area, questioned whether other sites had been considered before a final decision was made to settle with National Heroes Circle in central Kingston.
"Bear in mind [that] when you have a preliminary plan or conceptual plan that shows the total destruction of all those buildings on the eastern, western, northern, and southern portions of Heroes Park, it leaves one to wonder: Are we mad?" remarked Chen, triggering laughter and applause at the RJRGLEANER Communications Group town hall meeting held on Tuesday at the Wolmer's Boys School.
APPROPRIATE AREA FOR PARLIAMENT
Central Kingston Member of Parliament Ronald Thwaites also expressed similar concerns when he spoke.
"It is madness to talk about demolishing the Ministry of Finance, which was built with billions of dollars not 10 years ago, or the Ministry of Labour, or the Ministry of Education," Thwaites urged, pointing out that those details were contained in a plan he was told about.
Responding to the matter of location for the Parliament, Dr Damian Graham, general manager of the Urban Development Corporation, said that several studies had been done to determine where an appropriate area would be.
He also emphasised that much weight was placed on a 1953 document which had detailed that it was the wish of the leaders then to have the centre of government at Heroes Circle.