Shaw, Henry to tour Christiana road project

TOMORROW, WHEN the Office of the Contractor General's deadline for the National Works Agency (NWA) to provide it with details on the $800-million one-kilometre Christiana Development Road expires, two Cabinet ministers will conduct a media tour of the project in Manchester.

Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw, who is also the member of parliament for North East Manchester, and Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry will host the media tour of the controversial 0.625 mile of a road project.

Daryl Vaz, minister with responsibility for information, told journalists during a post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday that the scope of the work would be "clearly defined on the tour".

questions will be answered

Vaz said Henry and Shaw would field questions from journalists at the end of the media tour.

"I hope that all those who have so much to say from Kingston will make the effort to go to Christiana and have a tour and a fulsome explanation in terms of a PowerPoint presentation by the contractors in relation to the scope of work," he added.

The one-kilometre Christiana development road project has triggered widespread debate on the cost of constructing roads in the country.

Chairman of Parliament's Public Administration and Appropriations Committee, Wykeham McNeill, and some of his colleagues raised alarm last week when NWA head, Patrick Wong, disclosed that the project would cost US$8.9 million or nearly J$800 million.

Since that time, a raging debate has ensued with officials from the NWA and the finance minister defending the cost of the project.

The NWA yesterday attributed inconsistencies in reported projections for the cost of the Christiana road development to the original estimate being done before the completion of detailed designs.