THE Hanover parish council is now finalising plans to construct a transport centre in the Lucea capital, a move which is geared at alleviating the problem of traffic congestion and the lack of parking space for taxi operators in that coastal town.

“Over the last five years there has been a significant increase in the number of taxis and buses operating out of Lucea, and this has placed the small bus park in the Willie Delisser area of the town under pressure,” a source at the Council told the Observer. As a result of this, the source said that several taxi-men resorted to parking their vehicles along the roadway, and in so doing, contributed to the traffic congestion.

“The problem is even more compounded on Saturdays, when shoppers go to the nearby Cleveland Stanhope Market to make their purchases. There is hardly any available space for them to park their vehicles in the vicinity of the market,” the source added.

Against this background, the council announced that it planned to construct a transportation centre on lands it was currently in the process of reclaiming. The property in question is located on the Lucea waterfront.

According to the council’s secretary-manager, Alfred Graham, the reclamation aspect of the project is expected to cost in excess of $4 million and will involve the dumping of about three acres of land.

“At the moment we are stocking material and when the reclamation exercise is complete we will tackle the construction of the transportation centre,” Graham said.

He was, however, unable to say when construction of the facility would begin.

“At the moment I don’t want to commit myself to a timetable for the start, because that has not been signed off on officially at Council, and I don’t want to speak out of context. I would have to wait until Council analyse where we are and what time we will start,” Graham explained.

He added that the centre would solve the problem of traffic congestion in Lucea and that on completion, it would provide parking space for both private and public vehicles along with an area to house commuters travelling in and out of the town.

He said further that the Council was also looking at constructing shops at the facility to help ease the problem of street vending in the town.

The cost of the project could not be ascertained since, according to Graham, the details of the project are still being worked out.

The funding is, however, expected to come from the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development and from the coffers of the parish council.