CONTRACT SIGNED FOR SEGMENT 2A OF NORTH COAST HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

In the pic from left to right are: The representative from the contractor, E. Pihl and Sons; Minister Pickersgill; Dr. Alwin Hales, Permanent Secretary, MTW. In the background, from left to right are Mayor of Montego Bay, Noel Donaldson; State Minister, Dr. Fenton Ferguson and Mr. Vando Palmer, Communications Consultant.

Ground was broken and contracts signed for Segment 2A (Montego Bay to Greenside) of the North Coast Highway Improvement Project (NCHIP) on Saturday, March 11, 2006 at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Montego Bay.

The NCHIP involves the development of the Negril to Port Antonio road corridor and is being implemented in segments as follows:

• Segment 1: Negril to Montego Bay (75km) (completed)
• Segment 2: Montego Bay to Ocho Rios (97km)
• Segment 3: Ocho Rios to Port Antonio (96km)

Segment 2, is further divided into 4 sections:

• Section 1: Montego Bay to Greenside (27km)
• Section 2: Greenside to Rio Bueno (26km)
• Section 3: Rio Bueno to Salem (22km)
• Section 4: Salem to Ocho Rios (22km)

During the construction period, work on Section One was delayed due to a request from tourism interests in Montego Bay to revise the scope of works and dualise the portion of road between Montego Bay and Rose Hall. Because of the magnitude of the change in the scope of works in Section One, it was agreed, following discussions with JCCC that this section would be removed from the civil works contract and executed as a separate contract. This is what is now known as Segment 2A.

Contractor for this part of the Project is E. Pihl and Sons A.S. Cabinet by way of Decision #37/05 dated December 19, 2005 approved the award of a lump sum turnkey contract for civil works within Segment 2A in the amount of $50,276,482.00.

The contract starts in March 2006 and is scheduled to end in September 2007, a period of eighteen months. Two lanes of carriageway along the corridors as well as 50% of the four-lane portion of the road is scheduled for completion in March 2007 before the start of World Cup Cricket. The remaining portion of the four-lane carriageway is to be completed by the end of the contract period.

Segment 2A of the Project is to be financed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The Bank has approved a loan application from the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) in the amount of US$54M for the Segment 2A Project. Of this amount US$50M has been earmarked for the civil works component to be financed 100% by CDB Funds.

Speaking at the contract signing, Minister Robert Pickersgill said that he was confident that the project would be completed on time and within budget. He noted that various positive spin-offs in terms of economic, cultural and social activities of the area will make the project a necessary one.

Present to sign the contracts were the Minister, Permanent Secretary, Dr. Alwin Hales and representatives of E. Pihl and Sons.