Salt Spring Primary Rehabilitation to be Completed February

Rehabilitation of the Salt Spring Primary and Infant School in St. James is set for completion next month, says Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney.

The project, which commenced in September 2022, is being funded by JSIF at a cost of more than $34 million and is being undertaken in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Youth and the Salt Spring Community Development Committee (CDC).

It includes construction of a perimeter wall, a multipurpose court, a guardhouse with bathroom, a retrofitted double 40-foot container for a meeting room, and a concrete platform for a water storage tank.

The scope of works also entails rehabilitation of the linkway between the main building and the canteen, driveway and parking lot and upgrade of the sewerage system and termite treatment.

Mr. Sweeney said that erection of the perimeter wall is one of the most important aspects of the rehabilitation.

“A big part of their concern is securing the perimeter area of the school from people walking through as well as animals, and so that is a big part of our intervention here,” he said.

The rehabilitation project is the latest intervention at Salt Spring Primary and Infant by JSIF.

Mr. Sweeney told JIS News that the Safe Passage Programme was recently implemented at the school “which has been a tremendous intervention in the community”.

“We have [also] completed the [park] adjacent to the school, and so we are paying a little more attention now to the actual learning environment and executing those upgrades, which will be finished [by] about next month,” he noted.

The Safe Passage Programme aims to provide a safe environment for students as they traverse to and from school and includes installation of pedestrian crossings, electronic crossing signs, traffic signs, guard rails, construction of sidewalks, painting of curb walls, among other safety features.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sweeney informed that rehabilitation of the Lethe Primary School, also in St. James, was completed recently.

That project was undertaken at a cost of more than $12 million and sought to provide students with access to improved facilities for sanitation and recreation.

Work included slab roof construction, removal of water tanks from the roof of the sanitation block and construction of a concrete water tank base, upgrade of plumbing associated with the water tanks and sanitation block, waterproofing the roof of the sanitation block, rehabilitation of the guttering for the eating areas and classrooms, minor drainage works, repair of the linkway and renovation of the play area.