Emergency communication system to be operational by 2020
THE ESTABLISHMENT of a national emergency communication system is on track, with the facility slated to be up and running within the next two years.
Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Major Clive Davis, said the required equipment and other inputs are expected to start arriving in the island by the end of the year for installation to begin.
“The bid document should be in the country in June for us to go to market, and then we expect the equipment to start arriving late in 2018,” he said.
“By 2020, it should be fully up and running, but it is an extensive job. It includes putting infrastructure in some 35 communication spots or towers across Jamaica for us to make sure that the communication is secured.”
Davis said that the project is important in improving public safety and communication before, during and after natural disasters, as it will ensure connectivity when the standard commercial systems stop working.
“If you saw what happened recently in the Eastern Caribbean, where [hurricanes] Irma and Maria went through, you would have found that the normal communication systems failed,”he said.
“We could not reach some heads of government, and those communication systems are provided by the same providers we have in Jamaica, so we have to take another step. We have to make sure that we have a backup to the backup, and it’s a part of that business continuity plan that we are talking about.”