The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) is to monitor the multimillion-dollar road project in St Mary announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Friday.

More than $600 million are being spent by the Government on the Junction corridor which links Kingston and St Andrew with St Mary and Portland.

General Secretary of the People’s National Party (PNP), Julian Robinson, told reporters at a press conference this afternoon that the OCG responded to a call from the party to monitor major road works in St Mary.

The PNP had previously expressed concerns about the level of state spending in the parish which is to hold a by-election.

Contacted by The Gleaner today, Contractor General, Dirk Harrison, said his office will provide oversight on the project and report its findings.

The PNP general secretary told reporters that the party is not against improvements to the infrastructure in St Mary.

Robinson said the party’s interest is to ensure that there is transparency.

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He said this is important given that to date the government has not responded to the Contractor General’s report on the controversial debushing exercise undertaken last December.

In his report to Parliament, Harrison said the multimillion-dollar project deviated from government guidelines and that the selection of the five contractors lacked transparency and accountability.

The Contractor General also said that three government ministers may have lied about their role in selecting contractors, subcontractors and setting payment terms in the execution of the controversial exercise carried out in the run-up to the local government elections.