Speaking during Tuesday’s (December 14) launch of the $10 million Ferry Police Station Renovation Project, Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Robert Montague said the legislators were committed to concluding the matter before the end of the 2021 calendar year.
Noting that the new Act was passed in 2018, Mr. Montague said the Regulations “have been long in coming”.
“We were hopeful that today (December 14), [during] the final sitting of Parliament for the year… we would have been able to [table] those Regulations.,” the Minister pointed out. He said work on the matter was undertaken from the middle of last week into the weekend, “but unfortunately, the technocrats are not finished with it.”
“So the commitment is that right through the holidays, the Legislative Committee team will continue its work so that at the first sitting [of Parliament for 2022] we will be able to [table] the Regulations with the new Road Traffic… and the amendments to Transport Authority Act, to bring the new regime into being early in the New Year,” Mr. Montague indicated.
The Ferry Police Station in St. Andrew is to be renovated over the next six months at a cost of $10 million.
The project will be executed under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and Toll Authority of Jamaica (TAJ), which is funding the engagement.
Among the programmed scope of works are roof repairs, upgrading of offices/workspaces, restrooms and the waiting area, electrical modifications, and a general facelift of the building.
Minister Montague, who has portfolio responsibility for the Authority, and the entity’s Chairman, Hon. William Shagoury, symbolically handed over the cheque for the project’s funding to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Clifford Blake, who represented Police Commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson.
The presentation was made during a brief ceremony at the police station to launch the undertaking.
The transport and Mining Minister says members of Parliament’s Legislative Committee have committed to working over the upcoming holidays to finalise accompanying Regulations for the new Road Traffic Act, thereby concluding its promulgation.
