Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry disclosed at a post-Cabinet press briefing last week that the cost of repairing the damage done to the nation's roads is estimated at more than $3 billion. The estimate was disclosed in the wake of showers associated with Hurricane Noel which made no landfall here; but its outer bands of rain obviously added to the heavy October showers which followed in the wake of Hurricane Dean in late August.

In this the final month of the official hurricane season, the rains continue, adding misery to the terrible road conditions which are the collateral damage to the more severe battering done to property, including homes in several rural districts.

But our focus here is on the roadways, for they are the ultimate access to the areas that may have been cut off from relief supplies; some so badly marooned that the supplies have had to be transported by helicopter. Ultimately, however, the road access has to be restored so that normality can also be restored.

In spending the billions it will take to fix the roads, the relevant agencies must undertake to assess why so many roadways crumbled even in urban centres such as Kingston, which is less subject to the land slippage that affected rural St. Andrew and elsewhere in the country parts. Poor drainage may be a factor which acerbates the impact of flood waters on the city streets. But the failure of paved road surfaces surrendering to a plague of potholes must be ascribed to other causes.

We are indebted to a professional analysis by civil engineer John Allgrove, elsewhere in this edition (on page B6), who has had more than 40 years experience in road construction with agencies such as the former Public Works Department and the Urban Development Corporation.

Mr. Allgrove attributes the road failures to inadequate engineering and maintenance; to the extent that even repaving schedules have not been followed in due time. He claims that even staffing of the relevant agencies has been inadequate. The technicalities, of course, do not come within the purview of the users of the road. All they are concerned with is the inconvenience of having to manoeuvre between potholes on city streets; or the craters that leave the roads to their farms impassable even in the dry season.

The consequences of these shortcomings have become regular television fare in the evening newscasts with the ubiquitous demonstrations for "justice". The rain damage has added even more intensity to the long-standing complaints.Against his background, Mr. Henry has more to do than finding the billions to fix the roads and streets. He must ensure that the technocrats return to the processes and standards that make road construction approach the quality of a Highway 2000. Attaining those standards should mean better roads with less costly maintenance in the long run.