Pothole repair – Jamaica Observer

Jamaicans can expect to see progress in the rehabilitation of pothole-riddled main roads across the island over the next five weeks.

This will be part of the government’s move to address the deplorable state of several major roads as part of the $5 billion Emergency and Community Assistance (REACH) programme.

Stephen Shaw, head of communications and customer service at the National Works Agency (NWA), made the announcement at this week’s conference. Jamaica Observer Monday exchange at the newspaper’s headquarters on Beechwood Avenue in St Andrew.

According to Shaw, before arriving at the forum, he participated in an internal meeting at the NWA during which there was discussion of moving quickly to address a $2 billion portion of the money allocated to the REACH program.

“There are a few details we are trying to iron out… The intention is to cover the country over the next five weeks or so in terms of main roads. These are no longer community roads, but main roads, such as Spanish Town Road (in St Andrew) and the Naggo Head to Hellshire Road (in St Catherine). We will target key corridors to ensure that people can move across Jamaica more comfortably,” Shaw said.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently declared the state of the island’s roads a national emergency and announced an additional $2 billion would be allocated to the REACH program to begin urgent repair work.

Although the REACH program overlaps with the $45 billion SPARK (Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Highway Improvement) program, it is a separate initiative. The SPARK program is one of Jamaica’s largest ever road and water repair initiatives.

Robert Morgan, Minister for Public Works, told editors and journalists at the
Monday exchange that the Prime Minister has been very clear that the Government will do whatever is necessary to relieve the public of road problems.

He said the government would be engaged in “an ongoing road rehabilitation effort which is likely to last over the next 12 months”.

“SPARK is also one of them. We’re spending a record amount of your tax dollars to make sure this happens. We put accountability mechanisms in place to ensure that we and contractors are held accountable.

“We will be launching a section of the SPARK website, on the instructions of the Prime Minister, where people can report what is being done under SPARK. We have the email address, [email protected] where people can send their questions and requests,” Morgan said.

He added: “Very soon, Jamaica News Service will help us create various social media portals, not only for SPARK, but for people who see potholes being repaired that aren’t being repaired properly. They can contact us at NWA or visit SPARK Jamaica at X, formerly Twitterand send us the photos.

“These are all mechanisms to build the confidence you can have in the work we do. We don’t necessarily have the capacity to be everywhere at the same time. Citizens can help us repair the roads properly by helping to hold ourselves and contractors accountable.