TRANSPORT and Works Minister Mike Henry says he is pleased with the progress of the Palisadoes protection and rehabilitation project despite a two week delay in its completion.
Henry made a brief visit to the site Thursday where boulders were being laid in preparation for phase two of the protective works.
After being updated by project manager George Knight, he told journalists that stage 1 of the project was down for completion at the beginning of June, but was not completed until two weeks later. He said, however, that there were no cost overruns as the team stayed within the $500,000 limit for each revetment (retaining wall).
"What we are doing now is to strengthen the weak points so that in the event of a category one or category two storm we shouldn’t have flooding. Anything outside of that right now, we can’t guarantee protection," he said. He was speaking specifically about the boulders being laid which are the foundations for the third revetment to come on stream in phase two. Once it’s complete, however, the barrier will get to 4.2 metres, a height which, according to Knight, should withstand a category four or five storm.
Phase one of the rehabilitative works saw the building of two revetments at both ends of the problem area - a six kilometre stretch at the lowest part of the Palisadoes spit. The revetments, which essentially are compacted boulders erected to a height of four metres, are to protect the road from storm surges and floods in the event of hurricanes.
"Revetment one was 110 metres long. It was the area of the largest breach. The second one took it to 550 metres. So what we’re doing now is to plug the areas between the two revetments. That will take the work to 700 m. The long term plan, which will involve a modeling in a lab in Canada, will take up to the 6 km," said Knight.
The spit is the only access road to the Norman Manley International Airport, one of the island’s two major airports. Because of its position, it has weathered severe erosion and has become a flood prone area in recent years. The road took a battering from hurricanes Ivan and Dean in 2004 and 2007 respectively and lay inundated with heaps of sand, boulders and water for days.
The second phase of the restoration project will see the erection of a third revetment to join the first two. That, according to Henry, should be put to tender at the end of this month.
Henry said the long-term plans for the Palisadoes road, which include a promenade on top of the revetments and sand dunes in the area of Jamaica Gypsum and Quarries Ltd, are currently being reviewed by an expert in Canada and that he expected a nod of approval within the next five days.
The project began under the former People’s National Party administration and is financed by the Canadian Development Bank at $21 million.
