A $118m contract was yesterday signed for the renovation of the former Customs House to accommodate the Bureau of Statistics.
GINA said that Chief Statistician Lennox Benjamin and Aubrey Changlee, Managing and Technical Director of the contracted firm, Project Design and Construction Incorporated signed the contract at the Bureau’s current office on High Street, Kingston.
The work totalling $118.9M is expected to be completed within six months and entails alteration and renovation of the Customs House on Main Street to facilitate the operations of the Bureau.
In this year’s budget speech, Finance Minister Winston Jordan announced that the former Customs House would be the headquarters of the Stats Bureau which had over the years complained of cramped conditions.
Benjamin pointed out yesterday that the bureau has been established since 1987, but this is the first time it will have a permanent home.
Changlee stated that they will be putting their best foot forward in completing the project, and doing quality work.
Benjamin said that the Bureau of Statistics will be lending material support in the supervision of the process.
During the budget presentation, Jordan had said “Our chief data agency, the Bureau of Statistics, has been performing under pressure and adverse conditions. The Bureau will be modernized and provided with the tools to effectively perform and be of service to a wide range of stakeholders.
In this respect, nearly $150 million has been provided in the budget to rehabilitate the old Customs House, which has been identified as the permanent headquarters of the Bureau – the first time in the Bureau’s history since its incorporation in 1957,” Jordan said.
He added that this would allow the Bureau to finally consolidate its operations into a single unit, having had to contend with managing from three different locations.
