PAJ awards paving contract for port expansion works

Jamaica's port authority (PAJ) has awarded a US$4mn contract to Surrey Paving & Aggregate Ltd. to pave 188,000sq. m of the capital Kingston's container terminal, the Jamaica Observer reported. Works will be carried out in the north terminal; Surrey previously upgraded the south terminal in 2000. The project is part of the plan to increase by 300,000 the number of TEUs the terminals can hold each year, representing a 25% increase. The PAJ expects a total capacity of 1.5mn TEUs by 2005 up from the current 1.2mn TEU capacity, the paper added. As part of the port's expansion, the PAJ aims to sign by February a US$35mn contract for reconstruction of the north terminal berth, extension of the south terminal berth and extending the westward terminal by 90m. The PAJ will also purchase four post-panamax size gantry cranes for US$24mn and has purchased x-ray equipment for some US$18.8mn, due to arrive by February 2004. The works are part of US$65mn fourth-phase expansion of the transshipment terminal, which includes replacing obsolete equipment.