Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer WESTERN BUREAU:
MEMBER OF Parliament for Western Hanover, Ralston Anson, announced on Tuesday, that Prime Minister PJ Patterson will be calling a meeting in the town of Lucea "very soon with all the stakeholders" about the proposed development of the Lucea Cruise Shipping Terminal.
Mr Anson made his statements during the monthly meeting of the Hanover Parish Development Committee (HPDC). This after after the committee's chairman, Nerris Hawthorne, told him that she understood that the prime minister, "is not able to acquire the 10 acres of land needed for the cruise shipping terminal."
Ms Hawthorne insisted that Mr Anson as the MP, provide the HPDC with information on the developments, as no other information had been forthcoming since invitations for tenders were posted in the print media by the Port Authority of Jamaica last June.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO BE MADE
"As MP for Western Hanover, I would have thought that anything happening with the pier, they (Cabinet) would tell you," Ms Hawthorne told Mr Anson.
"The prime pinister is going to come to Lucea and make an announcement and I don't want to preempt him," responded Mr. Anson, who remained tight-lipped, when queries were made about the date for the prime minister's proposed meeting.
"I have discussed it with the prime minister and he will have this meeting. I think it is because of the West Kingston by-election why it has not been called as yet," he said.
Over the last three months, both the HPDC and the Hanover Chamber of Commerce (HCC) have expressed concern whether the cruise shipping terminal would become a reality. In a Gleaner interview in January, HCC president, Ryan Morrison, said that the government would be facing "political suicide" if the development did not take place.
In June 2004, the Port Authority of Jamaica advertised for engineering firms to submit proposals for providing the engineering and architectural design required for construction of the Lucea Cruise Shipping Terminal Development "in accordance with international standards".
SCOPE OF WORK
The scope of work includes 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 2000 persons within a two-hour period, and the construction of infrastructure such as walkway, access road 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.
