Letter of the Day | We need efficient management of our infrastructure

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I had written a research paper based on a newspaper article which mentioned Prime Minister Andrew Holness’ intention to shake up the National Works Agency (NWA) in addressing their lack of effective and efficient supervision of the nation’s infrastructure.

My suggestion is that all the infrastructure management agencies within the Government be housed under one ministry (Ministry of Infrastructure). This will allow for greater coordination on national issues affecting the Jamaican infrastructure, where budgets are crafted as one for roads, water, etc, inclusive of a component for maintenance.

These agencies would also be required to develop a robust preventative maintenance programme not in isolation of ongoing development projects. From this new cohesive ministry, greater supervision of works implemented and monitoring of the island’s infrastructure would be done directly by it or its subcontracted entities.

We have a number of project managers in the public sector, which, truly, they are not, as they have failed to focus on the key execution aspects, which include the five pillars (initiation, planning, execution, monitoring & control and closeout) of project management. Therefore, they are basically construction managers. Within the NWA itself there are a lot of these personnel which would warrant a change of their job title and mindset in the execution of projects that benefit the country on a whole.

It would also be good to have these contractors provide a guarantee on the quality of their work for the same time period as the project phase, to ensure their workmanship stands up to acts of God, like natural disasters. Where their work guarantee is compromised, they pay the cost to have the issues corrected, at no cost to the taxpayers.

GREATER AND STRONGER LIABILITY

This would be separate from the usual defect liability period. This would also eliminate some of the so-called contractors that only see progress without quality.

This would also mean that projects will be scoped and estimated properly for better tendering; which means the focus is not only on funds, but quality as well. This would allow for greater and stronger liability to execute certain type of projects, while ensuring greater quality of the works that can withstand the lifespan that the project was designed to last for. For example, a bridge is designed for 75 years with proper maintenance, and some buildings for 50 years with proper maintenance.

Effective maintenance also plays a great role in ensuring the sustained lifespan of any infrastructure/building. Maintenance is not about fix it when something goes wrong, but allows for preventative and predictive maintenance before you have to contend with fixing after natural disasters.

LENOX PLUMMER