More than 200 jobs will be created over the next 18 months as work on the new Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) building at Vaucluse, St. Thomas, begins.

The 45-year-old institution, presently located at Wildey, St. Michael, in the National Petroleum Corporation building, will be replaced by a modern, five-storey facility that will bring together all of the SSA???s departments.

Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe, broke ground today to signal the start of the estimated $28.7 million project, surrounded by members of Cabinet, other Ministry officials and staff of the SSA.

???The introduction of the five-storey administration office building will consolidate all of the decentralised depots and offices, with the exception of the Reed Street Depot and the Offices of the Cemeteries,??? he said.

Once completed in 2017, the new building will house the SSA???s administration, human resources, engineering, finance, information technology, security, landfill operations, the Northern Depot Collections, and Green technology departments. The latter will promote use of solar energy, harvesting of rainwater, and efficient cooling features and building site amenities.

Describing the building as a ???significant step for the Government of Barbados???, Dr. Lowe noted that through the construction and occupation of the building, the SSA would be able to advance the implementation of its vision to have a comprehensive, island-wide integrated solid waste management system.

The Minister further noted that the construction of the new building marked the continuation of the roll-out of a series of SSA projects, and will generate twice the operations revenue, which currently stands at over $52 million.

Those projects include the new cell four that was commissioned at Mangrove, St. Thomas, last July at a cost of $24.9 million; the Waste-to-Energy plant which will cost US$340 million; $31.9 million for a Leachate Treatment Plant; a Landfill-Gas-to-Energy project at $9.4 million; a Solar Project at US$60 million; a Wind-to-Energy facility at a cost of $24 million; the construction of an ultra-modern mechanical workshop at an estimated cost of $11 million and the Mangrove Beautification Programme at a projected cost of $11 million.

Work on the building is being executed under a public-private partnership. Moorjani Caribbean (Barbados) Limited is the contractor for the project, through a joint venture with Caribbean Consultants Limited. The consultant for the project is R.J. Burnside International Limited.

julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb

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