Gov’t Bridge Building Programme a Catalyst for Development – Pickersgill
March 7, 2006The Full Story
The government’s bridge building programme continues to have a positive impact on the economies of communities across the island.
Transport and Works Minister, Robert Pickersgill, who toured the site of Banbury bridge project in Linstead, St. Catherine on March 3, informed that the overpass, which is being constructed at a cost of $40 million, would be a catalyst for development in the community and the parish by extension.
“Linstead and its Linstead market.is already a bustling commercial centre and when this bridge is completed, it will provide an even bigger gateway to the economies of the surrounding communities”, he said.
He noted that there were several citrus, sugarcane, chicken and other farming projects as well as housing developments underway in the community and “all these would be enhanced when the new bridge is completed in a few months time.”
The Banbury project is part of a comprehensive bridge rehabilitation and replacement exercise being undertaken island wide under the R.A Murray programme, which is funded by the government of Jamaica and Canada and the Mabey and Johnson programme, which is funded by the British Government. The works are being carried out by the National Works Agency (NWA).
“We have a major bridge programme to replace a lot of the old, worn bridges,” explained Karl Patterson, a senior director at the NWA.
“We have 47 of them planned in the Mabey and Johnson programme and to put in place some 25 under the R.A Murray Canadian programme that are currently at varying stages of procurement, design, supply and construction. This of course, includes the proposed bridge for the Yallahs fording,” he told JIS News.
Work on the Yallahs fording should begin early in the third quarter and should take between 15 and 18 months for completion.
The project is expected to cost $500 million with an additional allowance for the rehabilitation of lands adjacent to the bridge site. The works will be undertaken on a phased basis starting at Poorman’s Corner.