Clarifying the role of One Road Authority

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The Gleaner’s editorial on the One Road Authority, presents the choice that Jamaica must somehow choose between more money for roads and better governance of the road network.

That is the wrong frame entirely. Jamaica needs both.

A World Bank study found that increasing infrastructure spending and improving governance together is far more effective than increasing spending alone, and that maintenance can often deliver greater value than new expansion when systems are properly managed. The IMF makes the same broader point: weak infrastructure governance reduces the return on public investment through poor planning, weak execution, and deferred maintenance. So the issue is not “money or reform”. It is whether Jamaica will pair greater investment with a stronger system to govern that investment.

The ORA is not being proposed as a cosmetic change or an extra layer of bureaucracy. Cabinet approved a policy framework in January to create ORA as an executive agency under the Works portfolio to regulate road performance and standards across the island while directly implementing works on national main roads. Government has also said the reform is intended to bring coherence to functions now spread across the National Works Agency, the Toll Authority, NROCC and related parts of the road system.

The island has more than 27,000 kilometres of roads, while only about 5,000 kilometres are managed by the NWA. The rest is distributed across municipal corporations, private communities, RADA, NROCC and roads with unclear or blurred responsibility. It helps explain why there are inconsistent standards, delayed intervention, repeated patching and too much uncertainty about who is responsible for what.

The public does not care which agency technically owns a road. People care that the roads are properly built, drained, maintained, repaired, and they last. They care about standards and outcomes. If that is what the public cares about, then governance is not a side issue. It is central.

The case for reform is even stronger as Jamaica rebuilds from Hurricane Melissa. A failed road can cut off communities, disrupt commerce, delay emergency access and weaken recovery. That is we cannot afford to rebuild critical corridors only to return them to the same fragmented model that helped produce poor outcomes in the first place.

The choice is simple. Do we continue spending through a patchwork system and hope more money alone will fix the problem? Or do we pair investment with a stronger governance framework designed to improve standards, accountability, maintenance and long-term value? That is why ORA matters.

ROBERT NESTA MORGAN

Minister with Responsibility

for Works