$57 Million Contact Signed for Cambridge Courthouse and Police Station

The community of Cambridge in St. James should have a new police station and courthouse in another eight months, as a $57 million contract was signed yesterday (June 20) for the construction of a complex to house the facilities.
The contract, which is being undertaken through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministries of Justice and National Security, was signed at the site of the former Cambridge Courthouse and Police Station, which have been abandoned for some time now.
Minister of Justice, Senator A. J. Nicholson and Minister of Labour and Social Security and Member of Parliament for South St. James, Derrick Kellier, broke ground for the project, which will get underway in another seven to 14 days. The project contractor is G.M and Associates Limited.
In his address at the contract signing ceremony, Senator Nicholson underscored the importance of the maintenance of public order and the dispensation of justice to national development.
“Public order has to be at the top of the agenda if we intend to be (and want to) continue to be a civilized society. Public order encompasses the work that is done by the members of the security forces. It includes the work that is done by those who man the courts including those who sit on the bench, and it includes all the citizens of Jamaica, who think that peace and good order should reign,” he stated.
The Justice Minister noted that “all persons, who are involved in keeping and maintaining good order in our country, deserve to work in a place that is conducive to turning out good work.”
“Justice is perhaps the highest principle of mankind, and if justice is to be dispensed properly, if persons are to feel that they received justice when they go into what I call the ‘Temple of Justice’, then the surroundings must lend themselves to justice being dispensed to the persons who go within the portals of the temples,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Minister Kellier, who is the Member of Parliament for the Cambridge area, called for the buildings to be made disabled-friendly in keeping with the policy for all government buildings.
Legal matters generated within the Cambridge area are now dealt with in the Montego Bay Courthouse, while the Cambridge Police Station is at temporary location within the Cambridge district.