Montague assures Sav-la-mar of new council building

MONTEGO BAY — Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Robert Montague, says Government’s contribution of $30 million towards the construction of a new municipal building for Westmoreland, has already been granted.

“I am told that the documents for tender are now being prepared, and I have advised persons responsible to hurry up and have these done, so that Minister Shahine Robinson can cut the ribbon to open the new office building of the Westmoreland Parish Council, before long,” Mr. Montague told the Council’s Financial Management Retreat, recently, at the Riu Hotel, Montego Bay.

Congratulating Mayor of Savanna-La-Mar, Councillor Bertel Moore, and his fellow councillors and staff for their 'innovativeness' in planning the retreat, Mr. Montague, who up to recently was Minister of State responsible for Local Government, admitted that completing the municipal building was an objective he had failed to meet before moving on.

“The staff of the Westmoreland Parish Council operate under extremely trying circumstances, with little space and hardly any equipment, but they execute their jobs in a manner that is befitting a more spacious and comfortable environment,” he acknowledged.

Mayor Moore informed JIS News that the Council building, which is in the first phase of construction, would include a Mayor’s Parlour, accounts department, Secretary/Manager’s office and a meeting or conference room at a cost of $41.5 million.

He said that the Ministry has already given the Council $2.5 million from the Equalization Fund, and has now approved another $31 million to enable the commencement of construction, soon. He pointed out that construction should take 12-18 eighteen months.

By GLENIS ROSE, JIS Reporter