Contract Signed For New Fire Station In Port Maria
By: , October 23, 2019The Key Point:
Photo: Donald De La Haye
Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie (seated, right), and Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Hon. Mike Henry (second left), sign a $217-million contract for the construction of a state-of-the-art fire station, in Port Maria, St. Mary, at the OPM, on October 22. Others participating in the ceremony are (from left): Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney; and Head of Marshall Construction Company Limited, Alphonso Reynolds. Observing (from left, standing) are JSIF Project Manager, Stacey-Anne Preston; Member of Parliament for Central St. Mary, Dr. Morais Guy; Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, Stewart Beckford; Procurement Officer at JSIF, Stacy Stupart, and Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Dennis Chung.The Facts
- Contract for the project was signed on October 22, at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in St. Andrew.
The Full Story
The town of Port Maria in St. Mary should have a $217-million state-of-the-art fire station in 12 months, to be funded by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).
Contract for the project was signed on October 22, at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in St. Andrew.
The facility will house up to 80 firefighters, and serve more than 100,000 residents in the parish as well as persons in the neighbouring parishes of St. Ann and Portland.
It will also serve as a venue for regional conferences and training sessions for the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB).
Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, said the facility will be of “significant benefit to the people of Jamaica”.
Mr. McKenzie also disclosed that the JFB will be getting 10 new trucks in December.
Meanwhile, Minister without Portfolio in the OPM, Hon. Mike Henry, said the project is one of many fire stations that JSIF will be building and upgrading, under the JSIF’s Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (DVRP).
For his part, Managing Director of JSIF, Omar Sweeney, informed that the DVRP is targeting three coastal communities – Montego Bay in St. James; Port Maria and Yallahs in St. Thomas – to improve capacity, so that vulnerable persons in the communities will be protected during emergencies.
The fire station is expected to improve the response time, as well as the human resource and equipment capacity of the JFB in the parish.