Fix asphalt shortage, says Phillips

Opposition Spokesman on Transport Mikael Phillips is calling for the government to immediately deal with the critical shortage of asphalt, which he says has now led to a crisis in the road construction sector.

According to Phillips, most road building and repair projects are now at a standstill because of the shortage.

In a statement, he said the situation needs to be addressed to avoid increasing the risk of vehicular collisions or damage to vehicles because of the poor state of road surfaces.

"The shortage was due to improper planning because the refinery is closed every year around this time for maintenance and the government should never have allowed this crisis to befall the country

“The blame for this should be laid squarely at the feet of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, which is responsible for the road projects and the refinery, and it is tripping over itself in a large inefficient and unwieldy bureaucracy instead putting in place the required logistics to get adequate supplies,” Phillips said.

Phillips said he had learnt that a shipment of fifty thousand barrels of asphalt was on the way to Jamaica, but said that this was too little too late to avoid the massive shutdown of projects and the consequential loss of jobs during the period.

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