KINGSTON, Jamaica - China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) has donated J$13 million to assist people and schools badly affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The funds were presented on Friday (November 9) by CHEC general manager for the Caribbean and Latin American region, Zhongdong Tang to the director-general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) Ronald Jackson.

Tang said that the donation was a humanitarian gesture from his company in light of the “tremendous damage and dislocation which was suffered by many persons, including the families of some of its own workers and former employees in its project locations near the recently completed Rio Grande Bridge in Portland and the Westmoreland Bridge in St. Mary”, where work is ongoing.

“We have been moved by the situation where families are still living in shelters because they are unable to afford repairs to their homes and where children are still unable to attend school because their homes and/or their schools have been badly damaged by the recent hurricane,”. Tang said.

CHEC is the general contractor for the road and bridge building projects that comprise the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP).

The projects include the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Works, where the road to the Norman Manley International Airport and Port Royal is being elevated and rock revetments constructed on both the sea and harbour sides to protect the road from inundation and damage by wave action, especially during storms and hurricanes.