Parliament building project under review after overbudget bid
Published:Sunday | September 15, 2024 | 12:13 AMJovan Johnson - Senior Staff Reporter
The construction of Jamaica’s new parliamentary building at the National Heroes Park in Kingston has been stalled, with no clear start date in sight.
“We are currently reviewing the National Heroes Park project with due consideration to applicable Government of Jamaica guidelines and processes,” the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) – the project manager – told The Sunday Gleaner. “We have not yet established a timeline for completing the review.”
The delay follows an international open bid process in which the sole proposal exceeded the project’s budget.
“As a result, the UDC is reviewing the scope for cost-effectiveness and value for money,” the agency said.
It declined to disclose the costs, saying some details “would be deemed confidential at this stage”.
Back in November 2020, the UDC said the estimated cost to construct the building was just over US$50 million (J$7.5 billion).
At the time, it confirmed that it had received the tweaked final plans from the winning design team, Design Collaborative Limited, led by architect Evan Williams.
The proposed timeline for construction of the new parliamentary square was May 2021 to March 2023, according to an environmental impact assessment, published in October 2020. That was a slight setback from the initial first-quarter 2021 start date.
With the review ongoing, no new invitation for bids will be issued until the evaluation is completed, adding uncertainty to the project’s timeline. It said given the issues, the procurement process will be revisited.
The initial invitation to bid for the new Houses of Parliament was extended in 2021. This was a prequalification tender, however. The actual bid was extended in 2022.
The UDC had indicated that during the current fiscal year, which ends in March, activities would start “to facilitate the construction of the new Houses of Parliament”. The project is in the procurement phase at 86 per cent pre-execution, according to Budget documents approved by Parliament in March.
The latest issues have caused a significant setback for the Government’s plans to establish Jamaica’s first purpose-built parliamentary building, which is seen as key to Kingston’s urban renewal.
The project was initially pitched as a central part of the National Heroes Park’s redevelopment, intended to drive investment and revitalisation in the area.
“This is a major and complex development, with multiple moving parts involving wider community infrastructure and people,” the UDC said.
Once the review is completed, consultations with stakeholders will continue.
The current cramped parliament building – George William Gordon House on Duke Street – is considered inadequate and unable to accommodate the increasing workload of the two chambers of the nation’s legislature.
More pressing issues
The Government has been accused of seeking to reduce green space in the city or ignoring more pressing issues in pitching the National Heroes Park as the location for the new building.
The project entails two major stages. The first involves the relocation of Jamaica’s Houses of Parliament, currently located at Duke Street in Kingston, to a new building on seven of the 50 acres designated as National Heroes Park. The remaining space will be transformed into green areas.
The second phase involves renovations outside the boundaries of National Heroes Park, which would result in the relocation of government ministries around the circular boundary of the park and renovating the surrounding communities into a modern city. The ministries operating in the area known as National Heroes Circle include finance and the public service, labour and social security, and education and youth.
The space was renamed National Heroes Park in 1973, and a section serves as the official place of honour for Jamaican heroes and dignitaries.