August Opening For Linstead-Moneague Leg of North-South Highway

The Linstead to Moneague leg of the North-South Highway should be open to the public by August.

This was disclosed by Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen as he delivered the Throne Speech at the 2014/15 State Opening of Parliament in Gordon House today (April 3).

He informed that work on the other two sections (Caymanas to Linstead and Moneague to Ocho Rios) is underway and, in some instances, ahead of schedule.

“This US$600 million investment will improve the ease of travel, reduce energy costs, provide national productivity gains, and open more of our country to further development in housing and commercial activities,” he said.

The project, which is being executed under a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement between the Jamaican Government and China Harbour Engineering Company, (CHEC), is being undertaken in three sections.

The first leg of the project connects Caymanas to Linstead in St. Catherine; the second, Linstead in St. Catherine to Moneague in St. Ann; while segment three will link Moneague to Ocho Rios in St. Ann.

The North-South section of Highway 2000 will be 66 kilometres long and allow motorists to travel from Kingston to the resort town of Ocho Rios in less than an hour.

The Governor-General noted that this and other developments over the past year, signals that “growth is returning to the construction sector”.

Highlighting developments in the works sector, the Governor-General noted that during this year, the dredging of the Kingston Harbour is expected to commence, as well as the completion of privatisation of the Kingston Container Terminal (KCT).

He further noted that Cabinet has approved the signing of a non-binding agreement between the Government, the Port Authority of Jamaica and CHEC to design, finance, develop, operate and transfer a Port Container Terminal and an Industrial Park in Jamaica.

Themed: ‘Going for Growth: Creating Opportunities’, the Throne Speech, marks the beginning of new fiscal year, which officially started on April 1.