CONSTRUCTION of a new Parliament building is to begin early in the next financial year, with detailed designs and drawings of the structure already done.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the announcement on Thursday as he made his contribution to the 2021/22 budget debate.

He said building approvals have been granted by the various authorities and the project is now undergoing the public investment process, to be followed by the contract procurement phase. The building is estimated to cost just over US$50 million.

“There is serious work to be done, and the Parliament as it is now structured is just not sufficient to carry out the level of work that is required. With 16 sessional committees and several ad hoc committees, this building doesn’t have the facility to fully accommodate the Parliamentary committee system,” Holness told the House of Representatives.

Holness said directives have been given to Leader of Government Business in the House Edmund Bartlett to immediately carry out a comprehensive review of the parliamentary system of sessional committees and make recommendations for improved efficiency in the short term.He said notwithstanding the structural constraints, committees which have been empanelled must start working on their mandates and review materials – even if there are no hearings.

“By the end of June I’m mandating that all sessional committees must have at least one meeting – whether in person or virtually,” the prime minister advised.The Government has assured that residents living in communities surrounding the 52-acre National Heroes’ Park, the proposed site for the new Parliament building, will not be dislocated to facilitate construction.

Instead, the residents of Allman Town, Fletchers Land, Woodford Park and Campbell Town have been promised that the value of the existing communities around the proposed Parliament building will be increased through improvements to the physical structure around these communities.

The Parliament building, which is to be housed on just under nine acres of land, is a part of the National Heroes’ Park redevelopment and government campus project, a component of a long-standing master plan to redevelop downtown Kingston.

Speaking at a virtual forum hosted by Urban Development Corporation and Environmental Solutions Limited in November of last year, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie said the project will automatically make the communities a part of the development and over time, security and activity in the surrounding areas will improve.

“The level of security that will come is going to be one where the communities will definitely buy into because it is for their advantage more than anything else,” said McKenzie.