News

THe Residents of Treadways in northwest St Catherine now have a new community centre. This was made possible through the efforts of Affordable Engineering, located in May Pen, Clarendon, which began construction of the $8-million facility in October last year.

Work on the project, which was completed in February 2010, was funded from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The St Catherine Parish Council provided technical support and supervision for the project.

During the official opening, Myrna Robertson, councillor for the Treadways division, described the occasion as joyous.

She noted that, over the years, the original facility, which was built in 1956, had been battered by several hurricanes.

"We saw the cumulative effects of the wear and tear and knew that the day was coming when we would have to say goodbye to our faithful centre, which had served us well and for so long," she said.

She told The Gleaner that she would be working closely with the Social Development Commission (SDC) and other relevant agencies to establish programmes which would facilitate young people, as well as senior citizens.

Robert Pickersgill, member of parliament (MP) for the area, in his address, implored the members of the communities to take care of the facility.

Moveta Munroe, director of the CDF in the Programme Management Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister, who also addressed the gathering, said since the CDF was established in 2008, just over $1.1 billion had been disbursed to members of parliament across the island to undertake improvement projects on physical infrastructure in their constituencies.

"Projects undertaken included road rehabilitation for farm and minor arterial roads, improvement to minor water supply systems, electrification to some rural areas, community centres and the establishment of sporting facilities, such as multi-purpose courts and playing fields," she said.

The CDF was established to improve the effectiveness of MPs through human and infrastructural development at the community and constituency levels.