LANDS IN the vicinity of Gordon House, the seat of the Jamaican Parliament, are being acquired to construct a new parliament building, beginning in the 2009/2010 financial year.

Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall said that steps have already been made to purchase lands surrounding Gordon House on Duke Street.

Presenting his third Throne Speech, in the 2008/2009 opening session of Parliament last Thursday the governor general said the acquisition of the lands would be completed during the new financial year.

"It is widely accepted that the existing Parliament building and the facilities it provides are woefully inadequate for parliamentarians to properly discharge their responsibilities to the people," he told the opening session of Parliament.

The debate ends

For years Jamaicans have debated whether a new parliament building should be constructed while parliamentarians on both sides of the political divide had failed to agree on where the building should be sited.

However, in recent times, there has been growing consensus that the country's Parliament should remain at its present location.

"In view of the rich historical significance of the present location, the new structure will be developed utilising the existing site and adjoining lands," the governor general said during his presentation.

In this fiscal year, the government will launch a competition for persons to submit appropriate designs for the new Parliament building.

The governor general said a key element of the design brief would be to "make the new building people-friendly, because the House of Parliament must be the people's house".

In 2003, a committee chaired by Oliver Clarke made recommendations for the construction of a new Parliament, citing woefully inadequate facilities to carry out the nation's business.