Multi-facility transport building for Westmoreland
Published:Tuesday | June 27, 2017 | 12:00 AMRomario Scott
A building to house both the Transport Authority and the Island Traffic Authority is to be constructed in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.
The building, according to the entities involved, will facilitate more efficient transaction for customers in the western end of the island.
The project is priced at $14 million and will involve the remodelling of an existing 1,677-square-foot building and the construction of an additional 882-square-foot facility.
The construction, which is to get under way after a ground-breaking ceremony later this month, is being funded equally by the Transport Authority and the Island Traffic Authority.
Speaking at the contract signing last week at the Ministry of Transport Kingston offices, Transport Minister Mike Henry said the new facility is a prototype of other developments to come in the transport sector.
"This new facility should improve efficiency and customer service and bring about some cost saving in operations," Henry said.
"We envisage a new one-stop shop that will yield economies of scale, improved efficiency in operations, opportunities for improving commuter service, more effective enforcement of regulations, the modernisation of the management of land transport regulation, and increasing central government revenue," he said.
VALUE FOR MONEY
Henry said construction must be completed on time and on budget.
"I will accept nothing less. I am demanding value for money. Equally, I do not want to hear that your work site becomes the venue for any ill-fated act or untoward behaviour," Henry charged the contractor.
In the meantime, the transport minister said that he has prepared a Cabinet submission seeking approval to establish the Land Transport Authority as a statutory body.
The Land Transport Authority, according to the minister, will be a single entity formed from the merger of the Island Traffic Authority and the Transport Authority in keeping with the Vision 2030 National Development Plan.