New Buff Bay Police Station to Be Built By November 2019

By November 2019, residents of Buff Bay, Portland, will have a new police station, which is being built by the National Housing Trust (NHT) at a cost of $50 million.

National Security Minister, Hon. Robert Montague, broke ground for the 4,000 sq. ft. facility during a ceremony on Friday (March 16).

The project is in keeping with Prime Minister the Most Hon. Andrew Holness’ charge to the NHT last year to build, upgrade or repair police stations within 10 miles of housing schemes the entity has developed.

Mr. Montague commended the entity for taking on this new mandate aggressively, noting the NHT’s target of 100 police stations across the country, on which $20 million to $60 million each, will be spent.

“If you carry a housing scheme into a community, the NHT has a responsibility to help to build and lift up the whole community,” he said.

In his remarks, Senior General Manager of Corporate Services, NHT, Neil Miller, said the venture is one way in which the agency is contributing to the provision of safe and secure communities for its contributors, mortgagers and partners.

“We see this programme as a way of helping the police to help us to deliver safe communities for our contributors. Through this investment by the NHT, our contributors will benefit for decades to come,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and Member of Parliament for West Portland, Hon. Daryl Vaz, welcomed the move.

He noted that the infrastructural activities that have been undertaken in eastern Jamaica over the last three weeks are “unprecedented”, noting work being undertaken to renovate the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Port Antonio Divisional headquarters.

Mr. Montague also broke ground for the construction of a new police station in Port Maria, St. Mary, on March 7.

Port Antonio Mayor, Councillor Paul Thompson, also expressed appreciation for the new Buff Bay police station, which he said will not only boost the morale of the police officers, but further enhance the town’s aesthetics.

“The new facility to be constructed is an indication of the commitment by Government to provide the police with all the support they need to take the fight to all those who are bent on causing mayhem through criminality and lawlessness,” he said.

Custos Rotulorum for Portland, Hon. Lincoln Thaxter, and Acting Police Commissioner, Clifford Blake, also welcomed the initiative.

The new Buff Bay will be built on land in close proximity to the Woodstock housing scheme, an NHT development, where it was previously situated before being relocated several years ago to rented property it currently occupies on First Avenue.