Initiatives to be Undertaken Early 2009 to Develop Clarendon

Minister of Transport and Works, and Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon, Michael Henry has outlined several initiatives to be undertaken early next year, which should propel the parish into a new phase of development.
Chief among these plans is the construction of an Aviation Training Institute, which will be permanently located at Vernamfield, after being temporarily housed at the Maritime Institute in Kingston.
“Already we are signing off on the extension of the Aviation Training Institute in Singapore to be established here in Jamaica. That will be officially housed at the Caribbean Maritime Institute in Kingston until Vernamfield is ready to accommodate it. That, coupled with the proposed relocation of the Jamaica Defence Force Headquarters to Vernamfield, already speaks loudly in terms of the sort of parish springboard that we are looking at for mega development, right here in Clarendon. So although we have been going as quickly as we can, we hope that you understand very clearly that we are intending to move this as quickly as possible,” the Minister informed.
He was speaking at the final meeting for 2008 of the Clarendon Parish Development Committee on December 3. In addition, Mr. Henry said, the Government has been moving as quickly as circumstances permit, to re-develop the railway system, as part of an integrated multi-modal transportation system, which encompasses land, sea, road, and rail.
“Very high on the agenda of the Government and very high on the agenda of the parish will be the re-development of the railway. The re-development of the railway is being approached in a two-way phased programme. A submission of this has been already sent to Cabinet, where directions were given for some aspects of it to be revised. These revisions, with the exception of about two, are being dealt with inside the Ministry of Transport and Works, but the others require an outside input,” he added.
Other immediate plans for the town include the installation of closed-circuit cameras, which are expected to significantly reduce the incidence of crime in the parish. There will also be ongoing efforts to resurface roads, clean drains and lay new water pipes to facilitate the rapid development of the area.