Commuters Urged to Help Maintain Transport Centre

Manager of the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre, Victor Green is appealing to commuters to do their part in helping to maintain the centre.
“We are going to need the help of everybody in the society, the commuters and the shoppers who will use the commercial facilities we would have to appeal to them to help us to keep the centre looking as it is five years from now,” he said.
Mr. Green, who was speaking in an interview with JIS News, informed that the management of the centre would ensure that the centre is maintained to first world standard. “This centre is going to be kept in a first world looking condition; it is going to be sparkling five years from now just as it is now and whatever it costs, that is the condition it has to be kept in,” he said.
Although both maintenance and security services will be outsourced, Mr. Green said that come January 12, there would be janitors and security guards on duty. “We are currently evaluating the tenders to see who will get the contract,” he said.
In addressing the issue of security, Mr. Green said that, “we are going to be very strong on security.” He added that the private security guards would be under his supervision and that the police would have an office in the administrative building within the centre.
“We can put as many police officers, private security guards in and around the centre,” he noted, and appealed to commuters to be vigilant about their personal security.
“The Transport Centre is something that no other Caribbean island has. It’s new, it’s different, it’s unique and we won’t have everything right for the 12th but we are open to suggestions,” he added.
The Transport Centre will have 17 commercial shops, 14 of which will be on the lower level. These shops will be offering various services, such as a barber shop, beauty salon, cell phone services, pharmacy, music store, patty shop, among others. “No shop will be selling the same thing,” he said. A food court will also be located on the upper level.
In the meantime, Mr. Green, in clarifying issues raised about the ownership of the centre, said that the construction of the centre was managed by the Port Authority of Jamaica. However, the Authority does not own it. Rather, the Transport Centre belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Works.