Work continues to ready Harrison Point

The buildings at the Government’s Harrison’s Point compound in St Lucy, which have been identified to house a COVID-19 quarantine and isolation centre, are still not ready to open, though ongoing work appears near completion.

When a Barbados TODAY team visited the location today to get an update on how the work has been progressing, the site manager was unable to give a comment.

But the team observed scores of workers at the site carrying out various tasks including adding final touches to the buildings.

No Government officials have responded to Barbados TODAY’s requests for an update on the project.

The COVID-19 complex is the last incarnation of the sprawling Government compound in its storied history. Originally built as a US naval facility from 1957 to 1979, it was a temporary replacement for the burnt-down Glendairy Prison and home of the defunct National Youth Service.

A March 13 press release issued by the Government Information Service (GIS) quoted Prime Minister Mia Mottley as saying that work on the buildings should be completed within a matter of three weeks.

She said then: “Once Harrison’s Point finishes in another three weeks or so, we would have another 56 isolation beds; just about 130 or 140 beds for quarantine; the appropriate accommodation.