A mere three years into a multimillion-dollar renovation and expansion, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) on King Street in downtown Kingston has been shuttered for a week now for urgent “rehabilitative work”, forcing the more than 50 prosecutors and other staff to be working off-site.

Information reaching the Jamaica Observer is that government lawyers and other employees staffing the office were last Wednesday given directives to pack crucial items in preparation to vacate the building. The offices were then closed on Friday and staff told that their operations would be temporarily relocated.

Thursday evening, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck told the Observer that a build-up of mould which was proving “toxic” led to the emergency closure.

“There is some moulding problem with the building, and it has to do with maybe the sweating of the central air-conditioning unit. It has to be dealt with. There needs to be some opening up of the levels so that fresh air can come in,” the justice minister explained.

“That is something we are trying to work on over the next week or two so that everything be sorted out, so the mould that has gathered can be cleared,” he said further.

The justice minister further described the situation as “unfortunate”.

“We have just completed a massive work on the building and enough openings were not put in place for ventilation, and then [there was] apparently a lot of sweating of the central air-conditioning unit, so it created a very toxic atmosphere,” he said.

A $626-million contract for the renovations and expansion was inked with YP Seaton and Associates Company Limited for the facilities which have been touted as “first class” by Chuck. The project was expected to last eight months. The scope of those works included meeting rooms; offices; lobbies; registry; cafeteria; bathrooms; security posts; extended library and conference rooms; and associated services, such as electrical, air conditioning, plumbing, fire services, external works and landscaping, and a new elevator.

In 2022, two newly constructed, state-of-the-art witness rooms were unveiled under a memorandum of understanding between the justice ministry and the British High Commission’s Foreign Commonwealth Development Office.

The expansion of the DPP’s office was to be the crowning aspect of the transformation of Public Building West in the continuing upgrading of the island’s justice infrastructure.

The works form part of the justice ministry’s efforts toward the modernisation which started in 2007 under the Jamaica Justice System Reform Project established by the Government to undertake a comprehensive review of the justice system and to develop strategies and mechanisms to facilitate increasing efficiency.