Master maps handed over to municipal corporation, police in Hanover

WESTERN BUREAU:

COPIES OF master maps of the Hanover capital, Lucea, and also of the fast-growing town of Green Island, have been presented to the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) and the Hanover Police Division with a view to assist them in their daily endeavours.

The presentation of the maps, which were prepared by the National Land Agency (NLA), was done at the HMC’s June monthly meeting by NLA representatives.

In an interview with The Gleaner following the presentation, Milton Saunders, mapping services manager at the NLA, stated that the features of the master maps render them extremely useful.

“What we did today was to do a handover of a complimentary set of maps, the master map, which is a map that covers, at a scale of one in 4,000, the town of Lucea and also of Green Island,” he stated.

He explained that a project is being carried out by the NLA, through which at least one major town in each parish is being surveyed and the master map done. He added that eventually all towns across the island should be covered under the project.

“The maps contain multiple layers, unlike other maps that we would normally do, which would be either of a topographic type or a planimetric type; this one combines both features,” he explained.

“So it carries both the topographic features, meaning elevation, vegetation, rivers, roads, etc, and also planimetric, which has man-made features such as parcel boundaries and others,” he noted.

He explained that it is a master map because both features are combined in one map.

Saunders noted that because of the varied features of the map, it has multiple functions and is being used by various agencies and organisations, inclusive of developers within the private sector.

Deputy Mayor of Lucea Andria Dehaney-Grant, who received the map on behalf of the HMC, expressed appreciation, noting that it will assist the corporation greatly in its planning and granting of approvals for developments within the parish.

Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Rainford White of the Hanover Police Division received a copy of the master map of the two Hanover towns on behalf of the police.

Saunders explained to The Gleaner that the Hanover handover is the second presentation that the NLA has done, with Manchester being the first to benefit under the project.

“We have covered 13 towns to date. We are currently working in Port Maria, doing the field work, and after that we are going to be doing St Ann’s Bay and then Morant Bay. And when we would have completed at least one town in each parish across the island, other towns will be mapped,” he stated.