THE government yesterday commissioned a technical study that will be used as a guide in the sustainable protection of the Palisadoes peninsula, the main road linking Kingston to the Norman Manley International airport.

The study will be carried out by Cuban firm Inversiones Gamma SA at a total cost of $14.85 million, and is projected to last 75 days, beginning yesterday. The final report, which will have design drawings for the shoreline protection, to include drainage works, public recreational facilities and road improvement plans and a detailed budget, is due by February next year.

The entire coastal strip from Caribbean Terrace to Port Royal will be studied, but particular emphasis will be placed on the 1.5-km stretch between the Harbour View roundabout and the Norman Manley International Airport, an area considered to be in immediate danger. Areas to be covered in the research work include the spit’s geology, its measured depth of water, the frequency and impacts of natural hazards over the past 100 years and the environmental impact of the work to be undertaken.

Stretching 12 km, the Palisadoes spit was severely damaged during the passage of Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Waves that rose up to three metres in some cases, destroyed much of the beach rock and swept across the roadway washing away sand dunes and causing serious erosion.

Yesterday, Minister of Housing, Transport, Water and Works Robert Pickersgill, at a press briefing held at his ministry’s offices on Maxfield Avenue in Kingston, said the protection of the Palisadoes peninsula was a “major undertaking” by the government, given the importance of the road to the Jamaican economy.

“Recognising the implications of the impact (of the Palisadoes) on the economy and the security of the country, a series of actions led to an agreement between the Jamaican Government and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide support for a Technical Cooperation Agreement aimed at protecting the Palisadoes and other possibly vulnerable areas along Jamaica’s coastline.

“In July of this year Cabinet approved the Memorandum of Understanding in which the Palisadoes peninsula was identified as the priority area. Since then, a contractual agreement has been worked out between the National Works Agency (NWA) and Inversiones Gamma SA, to conduct the study and develop the design for the shoreline protection,” said Pickersgill.

In the meantime, communications and customer services manager at the NWA Stephen Shaw said Cuba has a well-developed shore protection system, “one of the best on this side of the hemisphere”, and it was on this basis that they were selected to undertake the project.

Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica Gisela Garcia expressed gratitude to the Jamaican Government for the collaboration between the neighbouring countries on the project and said she hoped her fellow countrymen would do a good job.

– thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com