Government placing focus on preventative maintenance of community roads
Published:Friday | January 5, 2024 | 12:09 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer
Eastern Portland:
Prime Minister Andrew Holness is renewing Government’s commitment to placing emphasis on local infrastructure and ensuring that sustained maintenance becomes a priority.
Holness was speaking as he toured sections of Eastern Portland yesterday with Member of Parliament (MP) Annmarie Vaz, along with a technical team from the National Works Agency (NWA).
The prime minister, who was viewing the extent of damage caused by recent heavy rains, was quick to point out that construction of main thoroughfares, and in particular highways, has been carried out with success under a preventative maintenance programme.
Holness said the Government was on the verge of launching a new programme, first announced last March and called ‘Shared Prosperity through Accelerated improvement to our Road Network (SPARK), which he described as the largest allocation in the Government’s budget, at $20 billion, for road repairs and rehabilitation.
Announcing the programme during his contribution to the 2023-2024 Budget Debate, Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke had indicated that the programme would be at a cost of $40 billion over three years.
REACTIVE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME
“It may sound like a lot, but I’ll say to you that it is not enough relative to the demands that exist in the country,” Holness said yesterday. “This is really now the first step for the Government to move from a kind of reactive maintenance programme, which is mostly what we have.”
He added: “Damage takes place, and we are running [around] each time there is some damage or significant weather event to correct. We are moving now to a kind of preventative maintenance programme, where we, through a deliberate programme of planning, seek to extend the life of the road. We have already started on our highway programmes. You will notice that the highways that we have built … new roads that we have built … we have had heavy rainfall, heavy weather events, but thankfully, none of them have reported any major or significant damage.
“Why is that so? It is because the Government has taken a deliberate decision that when we build these new roads, they are built with proper drainage, they are built with proper sewerage, they are built with proper water lines, for Internet, they are built with the proper camber, they are built and designed to take 50 to 100 years of weather events. It makes the cost a little bit more expensive. The planning is a little bit longer, but that is because we are doing much more than just laying asphalt on the road. “
According to Holness, the Government is now focusing on dealing with local community roads, which will be built or repaired under a preventative maintenance programme which, he said, will ensure an extensive road life on roadways throughout the varied communities.
“We are going to ensure that those roads that are repaired, out of that fund, have the input of the people. The only way, sometimes, that people have any impact on government policy is by protest and demonstrations. And I think that, in 2024 Jamaica, there has to be a better way for the public to be able to exercise influence on government policy. So a part of this allocation will be community driven, meaning that all the elected representatives must conduct consultations, division by division, so the people can say which infrastructure, which roadway, which gully, which breakaway is most in need of assistance.
“Not every road is going to be repaired, but it is important that there is community participation in determining the priority of which roads are repaired. I am hopeful this will go some way in changing people’s perception about how infrastructure is maintained. This is really now the first step for the Government to move from a kind of reactive maintenance programme to now move to a kind of preventative maintenance programme.”
Holness was addressing a gathering at a major breakaway at Berrydale, leading to Rio Grande rafting, Portland’s premiere tourist-attraction site, which has been eroding for the better part of 10 years. Additionally, Holness said that in putting together the country’s budget, his Government has ensured that buffers are in place that will enable the administration to make allocations in the case of any eventualities.
Earlier, Stephen Shaw, communications manager at the NWA, said there was an approved contract valued at $9 million to do cleaning in the space at Seaman’s Valley, where significant damage has been done to the road network and farmlands.
According to Shaw, the NWA had requested $20 million, however, the money that is available will allow for mitigating against flooding in that stretch of the roadway, which will also see construction of proper drains and river training.