Environmental Impact Assessment begins for Harbour View to Albion roadway
KINGSTON, Jamaica — A major component of the preliminary activities leading up to the widening of the main road between Harbour View, St Andrew and Albion, St Thomas is now underway. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study is now being done, focusing on the roughly 20 kilometres stretch.
Manager, Communication and Customer Services at the NWA, Stephen Shaw says that a contract for the works was agreed last month and that the report is expected to be completed by the end of April.
The completion of the EIA is one of the requirements of the agreement between the Jamaican government and the China Exim Bank for the financing of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Programme.
Under the SCHIP, the roadway from Harbour View to Albion is to be reconstructed and widened to accommodate four lanes of traffic. The corridor from Albion to Port Antonio is to be rehabilitated, while similar work is slated for the road from Morant Bay to Cedar Valley.
Shaw explained that the EIA is focusing on the Harbour View section, as it involves the construction of a new road. The work to be undertaken on the other sections will be done on the same alignment and therefore does not require an EIA.
The SCHIP, which also includes extending the East/West Highway from May Pen, Clarendon to Williamsfield, Manchester is to be undertaken at a cost of US$384 million.
