Rush on to complete downtown bus park

With only nine days left before new public transport arrangements for downtown Kingston take effect, workmen have been feverishly working to complete the bus park on Water Lane before its January 15 opening date.

As the hot Wednesday afternoon sun blazed down on painters, masons, plumbers and welders carrying out their duties, there was no time for idle talk

A backhoe operator, aided by men with shovels, removed dirt and boulders from the premises, making way for paving trucks as well as a cement mixer standing by to pour concrete for a new foundation.

The new police post, which will be manned by members of the Island Special Constabulary Force, has already been completed with only a few finishing touches remaining.

Two men, employees of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), busily supervised the workmen. The UDC is responsible for constructing the bus park as part of its redevelopment plans for a larger transport centre in downtown Kingston.

Busy workers

One of the men, who identified himself as a clerk of works, paused briefly to speak with The Gleaner, while showing an unlevelled spot to a workman using a shovel to smooth the freshly laid marl surface prior to asphalting.

Metres from the police post, several welders and painters busily worked on old shipping containers converted to house new administrative offices, bathrooms and ticket offices.

The Gleaner later learned the containers were brought in at the last moment as the concrete buildings constructed earlier were found to be inadequate to handle the anticipated traffic expected at the bus park.

"You feel we not going make it?" the UDC representative asked, his voice competing with the noise of the compressors and standby generators being used to power heavy-duty welding and drilling equipment.

He looked around at several other workers fitting larger zinc roofs to the skeletal framework being transformed into bus shelters, with several pieces of metal sheeting lying stacked or strewn on sections of the ground.

Without blinking an eye, he said: "We'll make it ... don't worry yourself."