Barnett Street Fire Station Almost 90 Per Cent Complete

Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney, says the Barnett Street Fire Station in Montego Bay is close to 90 per cent complete.“We are continuing to work on the finishes and some painting is happening right now,” he told JIS News.“We are cautiously moving towards an end-of-June/early July completion, simply because [with] the magnitude and scale of the facility, there are a lot of minor details that we are trying to ensure are done to the highest standard,” he said, noting that JSIF is working closely with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) on the project.Mr. Sweeney told JIS News that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the completion schedule, due to delays in the delivery of some of the equipment and furnishings that were being imported.“The global impact of COVID has slowed down a lot of manufacturers and so that has impacted our schedule more than anything else. When you construct something like a fire station, there are a lot of specialised equipment that have to be put in that facility and they are not really locally available. So we have had some challenges with that, but nonetheless, everything that we are physically able to do we have been doing that,” he said.Mr. Sweeney told JIS News that the responses from the firefighters have been positive.“They are involved in the process and that is one of the reasons why we want to ensure that as the users of the facility, it is to their comfort and practicality, so they have been very positive,” he said.Construction of the Barnett Street Fire Station is being undertaken at a cost of $550 million and Mr. Sweeney said that, so far, the project is within budget.“There are some changes in specifications and things like that because things are not available and we have to be looking at alternative specifications, and so once we have pinned down and finalised all those details then we will be able to determine the final cost. But overall, our budget is being maintained,” he said.