- RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson breaks ground for the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre at North Odeon Avenue and Eastwood Park Road on Wednesday. Looking on (from left) are Claudia De Maesschalk of the Office of the Vice-Prime Minister, Ministry of Budget of Belgium; Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie; Transport and Works Minister Robert Pickersgill; and Commerzbank of Belgium Vice-President Jacques Nyssen.
Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
SOME 200,000 commuters who are estimated to traverse the Half-Way Tree area each day will, by late 2007, benefit from the construction of a new transport centre that will be built by the government.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson broke ground for the facility, which will be constructed on lands at North Odeon Avenue and Eastwood Park Road in St. Andrew, the site of the former Odeon Theatre.
At the ground-breaking ceremony, Mr. Patterson said the centre is expected to improve travelling conditions and reduced stress among the public, which he said would result in increased productivity at the workplace and improve capacity of students to learn in school.
The prime minister said: "This is going to be a state-of-the-art transportation centre. Perhaps, not quite as big as Pennsylvania station in New York or Waterloo in London. But it will be of the
requisite size and equipped with the requisite facilities to make us proud and to allow our passengers to use these facilities with comfort and a sense of dignity."
ENHANCE SCHEDULING
Mr. Patterson said that the centre would also serve as a terminus for all buses in the Corporate Area and a central arrival and dispatch area for all buses. This, he said, would help the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) to significantly enhance its scheduling and dispatch of buses, as well as its overall efficiency.
The centre is being constructed at cost of $55 million euros (J$4.4 billion) from a loan secured from the Belgian Government. Mr. Patterson, in outlining the loan agreement, said that about 80 per cent or 43.5 million euros is being loaned on an interest-free basis with the remainder 11 million euros being loaned at 4.3 per cent per annum.
Mr. Patterson said repayment would begin after the designated construction period over a 10-year period.
The Ministry of Transport and Works said that construction of the centre is expected to commence in June. This is after the South Odeon plaza, which houses several stores, is demolished within the next three weeks.
Meanwhile, Transport and Works Minister, Robert Pickersgill, told The Gleaner that the public would experience some dislocation, as new traffic arrangements will be introduced while construction of the centre takes place.
