Montego Bay, Jamaica – (JIS) – Cabinet has approved the award of a development design contract valued at $117.8 million (US$1.9 million), to upgrade the Montego Bay cruise ship terminal.
The project is part of the efforts by the Port Authority of Jamaica to add capacity to its terminals. The contract has been awarded to the United States-based company, Mott McDonald.
Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman gave details of the project on Monday, October 10 at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing held at Jamaica House.
He explained that “the cruise ship terminal has fewer berths than the space available can afford, and with Montego Bay being a premium tourist destination and certainly so for cruise ships, it was decided to increase the capacity of the terminal to receive more ships”.
The expansion of space, Mr. Whiteman added, would provide for a minimum of six berths, which would allow for six ships to be accommodated at any one time in the port.
The Minister pointed out that the terms of the contract were specifically for the design and supervision of construction of the additional berth space.
Design work for the expansion is expected to be completed within six months, after which, “a further two or three months [is projected] to go to tender for the construction side of the project”, Mr. Whiteman said.
Senator Whiteman said actual construction at the terminal would last between 15 and 18 months.
