CABINET HAS approved the award of a $222.5 million contract for the construction of a multi-storey car park and two-storey gymnasium in New Kingston.
Minister of Information Burchell Whiteman announced on Monday that the new car park, to be constructed by local contractors, Cooper and Associates Ltd., will have a capacity for 330 motor vehicles.
The car park and associated infrastructure works will be constructed at Park Boulevard in New Kingston.
"It is being created in order to satisfy the parking requirements of the National Housing Trust's (NHT) customers and staff, as well as visitors to Emancipation Park," the Information Minister told journalists during Monday's regular post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
The car park, comprising 5.5 split levels, will encompass 12,185 sq. metres in total parking area. It will include 1.5 below ground levels, roof parking as well as the other three above ground levels.
Currently, travellers to the New Kingston area are regularly hampered by an inability to locate parking space, notably in the vicinity of Emancipation Park. The park, opened two years ago, has become the centrepiece of the New Kingston attraction, welcoming thousands of visitors each day.
Emancipation Park is managed by the NHT.
Minister Whiteman indicated that the parking area is also expected to accommodate the excess parking requirement for hotels in the surrounding area, at a fee to be determined.
The floor area of the gymnasium will be about 355 sq. metres, he added.
