Present at the meeting were officials from Kingston International, HKR Architects, Saraiva & Associates (S+A) and Gabinete de Estruturas Geotecnia (GEG)
As a way to move the LOH project forward from its design phase and further cement investor’s confidence in its viability, issues discussed at the Lisbon meeting were basically around risks associated with the project and solid foundation on how to tackle them.
Solutions were proffered to all risks identified and each of the professional partners was charged with the responsibility of addressing risks attached to their deliverables.
The Project Director, Teni Eleoramo gave a general introduction and welcomed all to the meeting and expressed his thanks to all for attending. He expressed interest to incorporate alternative power generation systems, including solar and hydroelectric.
The use of the existing road, the new proposed road link and the rail links and how these can be integrated into the design were discussed, and the team also talked through the current phasing model and what potential uses they were looking at. The Project Director expressed his views about the size, location and phasing of the golf estate.
Phase one will be a series of joined up sustainable communities, each one with its own community facilities. Phase two will be the golf estate. Other phases include large central hospital with community healthcare facilities and Film University.
Other areas to be considered are churches and mosques, Public entertainment, fire services and police stations, use local requirements, private security with CCTV surveillance etc.
Discussion was held on infrastructure by all professional partners. HKR led discussion on road and rail network, GEG looked into gas, power and power options (initial estimates set at 60mw for the development. There will be a strategy developed for the location, type of the power generation, substations and distribution network), housing types and geology.
Water (on site bore holes to cater for a population of 9,000 in phase 1 and an additional 2,000 in phase 2 and a provision of high level reservoir with treatment plant), telecommunication (to develop a strategy for distribution of telecoms and the location as a central station and requirements for satellite connection), storm drainage, energy and solid waste were other infrastructures discussed.
The Project Director explained his vision for the development in particular, the form of the residential units and that it should be done to the IFC (World Bank) standards and any variance to the Regional Government guidelines should be identified and signed off by the Regional Government.