The government is preparing to relocate staff in the General Post Office building, which has had structural problems over the last several years, Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna- Martin said.
The decision was made after air condition challenges led to severe flooding in the building on East Hill Street.
“We have made a determination as a matter of policy that we are moving people out of that post office,” Hanna-Martin said.
She said officials from the Ministry of Works assessed the building this week and identified challenges.
“We have been looking at alternate locations for the short to medium term establishment of general post office services which include the entire spectrum of service, including the savings bank, parcel post and also the mail sorting aspect of it,” she said.
“We are hopeful that over the next few days a building will be identified and people will be redeployed from the General Post Office to new accommodations.”
In meantime, employees are working fewer hours, Hanna-Martin said.
“We want to limit the time they are in that building until we find alternate accommodations,” she said.
In February, post office employees claimed that a large concrete slab fell from the ceiling and nearly hit a worker.
At the time, Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) Secretary General S. J. Miller said the building posed “serious health and safety problems” for employees.
Hanna-Martin acknowledged that the building has fallen into a state of disrepair over the years.
“The post office was built in the 1970s and it has gone through a process of deterioration and this is where we are now,” she said. “It has become necessary to move the post office from that building to a new location.”
Hanna-Martin said there are also air conditioning issues at the Elizabeth Estates, South Beach and Grants Town post offices.
As Ministry of Works officials work to address those issues, Hanna-Martin said the people employed at those offices are also working fewer hours.
“We can not require people to stay in conditions of that nature,” she said. The General Post Office also houses the Office of the Attorney General.
Minister of Labour Shane Gibson told reporters in February that the AG’s office will be relocated to a government building on John F. Kennedy Drive once renovations are completed.
By Krystel Rolle
Guardian Staff Reporter
