MINISTER PICKERSGILL GIVES UPDATE ON MINISTRY PROJECTS

Minister Pickersgill addressing the Press Conference, partially hidden is State Minister, Dr. Fenton Ferguson.

Minister Robert Pickersgill gave a comprehensive update on projects falling under the purview of the Ministry of Transport and Works at a Press Conference held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday, February 1.

Also present at the Press Conference were Chairmen and Heads of Agencies who along with Ministers Pickersgill and Ferguson fielded questions from the Press.

Among the matters dealt with were those relating to the Road Maintenance Fund, Highway 2000, the Northern Coastal Hihgway Improvement Project (NCHIP), National Road Services Improvement Project (NRSIP), the Jamaica Bridge Development Project, seaports, airports, the Half Way Tree Transportation Centre, the Transport Authority, the Road Safety Unit, the JUTC, Montego Bay Metro, AEROTEL, the Toll Authority, the Port Security Corps and the Maritime Authority of Jamaica.

With respect to the Road Maintenance Fund, it (the Fund) was very busy doing repair work subsequent to the various hurricanes and flooding. On its behalf, the NWA engaged in road repairs resulting in road clean-up and restoration in a relatively short time. 34 contract packages for maintenance work were approved at a cost of $117.3M Projects completed under the Fund, included the Dunrobin Avenue/Constant Spring Road junction ($24M), the Constant Spring/Shortwood Road junction improvement($8M), the Barbican Road/Russell Heights Road junction Phase 1($8M) and the East Kings House Road Bridge expansion Phase 1($6M).

Highway 2000
Works on the Portmore Causeway are on schedule and a small section between the Hunts Bay Bridge and the Fort Augusta Interchange has been opened to traffic since December 2005. The Hunts Bay Bridge should be completed by the end of February 2006 and the rest of the works by the end of June 2006. After the commissioning of the tolling equipment, it is expected that the road will be opened to tolled vehicular traffic on or before the end of July 2006.
It is expected that Phase 1b which is between Sandy Bay and Williamsfield , will not start until late 2007. This, because there is a need for the Developer to monitor the flow of traffic on Phase 1A and to realise revenues from that section which will be utilised in the financing of Phase 1B. NROCC is currently investigating the possibility of constructing the Spanish Town to Ocho Rios leg of Highway 2000 before the Sandy Bay to Williamsfield construction.

SEGMENT 2 - NCHIP
This Project is approximately 70% complete and a budget of $907M is required to complete this Segment and a further J$1.5B for the dualisation of the Highway between Sangster Airport Roundabout and Barrett Hall. The completion of this Segment is critical as it will support the construction of some 11,000 rooms through developments sucg as Ibero Star, Harmony Cove and Palmyra Resorts.

SEGMENT 3 – NCHIP
Ground was recently broken for the construction of this Phase of the project. It is funded through grant assistance from the European Union. The civil works contract was awarded to E. Pihl and Sons A.S in the amount of J$689,862,360. The civil works contract will be 100% funded by the EU.

NATIONAL ROAD SERVICES IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (NRSIP)
This programme which is being implemented over three years with assistance from the IDB, gives emphasis to the routine maintenance of roadways to prevent further deterioration. This will strengthen the NWA’s capacity to implement and manage in the short term a nationwide maintenance programme and in the medium term, major construction and rehabilitation activities. Construction works with the project is expected to be financed jointly by the IDB and funding from the Road Maintenance Fund. US$6M is needed to support the award of three year maintenance contracts in the pilot parishes of Westmoreland, Manchester, St. Catherine, St. Thomas and Portland.

PORT AUTHORITY OF JAMAICA (PAJ)
In 2005, the Port of Kingston attained the 56th ranking among the World’s Top 100 container ports and retained its position as the leading transshipmnent port in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
Phase 4 (KCT4) of the expansion programme of the port was completed on time and within budget raising capacity of the port to 1.5 million TEU’s. Between January and November 2005, 1.394 million TEU’s were handled by the port compared to 1.109 million TEU’s during the same period in 2004, a 25.71% increase.

Kingston Container Terminal Expansion Phase 5
The project objective here is to increase the Terminal’s capacity from 1.5million TEU’s to 3.2 million TEU’s by 2009. This is to be achieved by the construction of 482 metres of berth and the construction of 65 hectares of container yard to include underground ducts and high mast lights.

AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF JAMAICA (AAJ)
Sangster Airport
Phase 1B of the capital development programme was completed at the end of 2005 at a cost of US48.5 million. A new eleven-gate airside concourse is now in place (with the capacity to accommodate six wide-body aircraft) complete with gate lounges, passenger loading bridges and thirteen new retail and food outlets. The ICAO standard for the separation of arriving and departing passengers has been thus addressed. Phase 2 of the programme is underway and is ahead of the mandatory 2008 commencement date. The work is scheduled to be completed in mid-2008 at approximately US$65.0M.

Norman Manley Airport
Major construction works for the expansion of the airport are projected to commence in 2006, following the completion of the preparatory/interim works which commenced in early 2005. Phase 1a of development will result in the construction of a new three-level departure concourse of approximately 10,000 sq metres which will be integrated with the existing Ticketing Concourse. The new and re-developed ticketing area will accommodate 54 check-in desks, and to support the airlines and build efficiencies the Common Use Terminal System (CUTS) will be introduced. The Ticketing area will also have the capacity to accommodate well-wishers within the terminal. A significantly improved area will also be available for passport control and for security check. On the 3rd floor of the Concourse, a new Departure Lounge with retail offerings and facilities to comfortably accommodate passengers will be erected; this development will also result in passenger loading bridges being installed.

TRANSPORT AUTHORITY
During the period April 2005 to November 2005, a total of 25,982 licences were issued, broken down as follows:
(a) Route Taxi 10,008
(b) Rural Stage 415
© Hackney Cge 791
(d) Contract Cge. 1,844
(e) Public Carrier 3,255
(f) Private Carrier 9,669

A total of 12,670 prosecutions were carried out resulting in a total of $18,964,629 being paid into the Consolidated Fund. The operational arm was strengthened with the re-establishment of joint operations with the Island Special Constabulary Force. Sixty police officers have been assigned to the Authority.

MOBAY METRO
For the period April 2005 to January 2006, Montego Bay continues to operate on three routes and in September 2005, a second dedicated route to Ruseas High School was added as requested by the school. The company now operates on three municipal routes and three dedicated school routes, these being: Greenwood to City Centre; Sandy Bay to City Centre and Cambridge to City Centre. The dedicated school routes are Merlene Ottey High School; Knockalva High School and Ruseas High School.

JAMAICA URBAN TRANSIT COMPANY (JUTC)
Revenue for April, 2005-December 2005 amounted to $1,915.28B, an increase of 16.32% over the corresponding period in 2004. Ridership for April-December, 2005 amounted to 56.34 million , a decrease of 2.09% vs. the corresponding period in 2004.
A campaign was initiated to increase the use of Smart Cards. This resulted in a doublig of users to 7% and Point of Sale locations moving from 18 to 47. including 19 schools.

Nine timetables were published and erected in the eastern region. This is a part of the commitment given to improve customer service. A revenue protection programme introduced to reduce the number of free riders on the buses has proven quite effective. The JUTC intends to continue working closely with the National Works Agency and install a number of cameras at key points in the Corporate Area to monitor operations and improve safety, efficiency and regulation of the KMTR. The company also plans to install cameras on buses in the coming year also as part of its safety and risk management programme.

TOLL AUTHORITY
During the year, the Authority commissioned a review of the signs of the highway; this was conducted by NWA on the Authority’s behalf. Instructions for amendments and adjustments of some signs were subsequently submitted to the Trans Jamaica Highway as the body responsible for corrections.

The Authority recently retained the NWA to conduct an audit of roads. In this Audit, the Agency will provide:
• Review of design hydraulics and actual operations
• Review of Quality Assurance
• Review of traffic queues, signage
• Desktop review of all built drawings
• Field/Site visits
• Advise on the acceptability of the designs and all works constructed in relation to accepted international highway construction, design, drainage and bridge designs.

The Authority processed 36 calls since the beginning of the financial year, a 55% reduction in complaints when compared with to the previous year’s figure of 80.