Still no sign of construction at Lucea Shipping Terminal

Claudia Gardner, Hospitality Jamaica Writer

HANOVER:

ALMOST TWO months overdue, complaints regarding the start of construction of the Lucea Cruise Shipping Terminal have surfaced from the Hanover Parish Council and the Hanover Chamber of Commerce.

The two entities are concerned about the delay and lack of information from the Port Authority of Jamaica on the issue.

Lucea Mayor of Lucea, Lester Crooks, told Hospitality Jamaica in an interview last Wednesday that the council has since written a letter of inquiry to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, and was "awaiting his response."

"We thought that construction would have started already!" the mayor said. "But my God, I wonder when is it going to be a reality? He (Mr. Patterson) made a commitment to the people of this parish that we will have this cruise shipping terminal, yet nothing has been happening. Those are not my words; those are his words!

"He has made us a promise and he should deliver. He was the one who came public and told us about cruise shipping and, therefore, in his capacity as Prime Minister, I am expecting him to deliver," he reiterated.

Mayor Crooks said that the council and the Hanover Chamber of Commerce had met with Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) Chairman, Noel Hylton, shortly after that organisation advertised in June 2004, for Lucea Harbour20050524C engineering firms to submit proposals for the designs required for the construction of the cruise shipping terminal.

A view of the Lucea Harbour.

"Mr. Hylton assured us at the time that the cruise shipping terminal would be built," Mayor Crooks said. Three months ago we wrote to him requesting an update and up to now we have not received a reply."

When Hospitality Jamaica contacted Member of Parliament for Western Hanover, Ralston Anson, he refused to comment on the matter.

Mr. Anson had announced during a meeting in March 2005 at the Hanover Parish Development Committee (HPDC) that Mr. Patterson would be calling a meeting "very soon with the stakeholders in Lucea," after HPDC members demanded that he explain why the construction had not begun.

WHAT'S GOING ON?

A letter has since been written to Minister of Transport and Works, Robert Pickersgill, by the Hanover Chamber of Commerce Chairman Anthony Marks, who said, "Since we have been hearing rumours we want to know definitely what is happening."

He said a letter was also sent to the Port Authority over a month ago, making inquiries. "They wrote us back saying that they would update us, but up to now they have not done so.

In the June 2004 advertisement placed by the PAJ, they stipulated that the scope of work was to include the construction of a finger pier with the capability to accommodate the simultaneous berthing of two large cruise ships, the construction of a terminal building with the capability to facilitate the unimpeded flow of approximately 2,000 persons within a two-hour period, and the construction of infrastructure such as walkways, access roads and parking facilities.

At the time, it was projected that the contract for the engineering services would be awarded by September 2004, designs completed by March 2005, and construction completed by December 2006