Consultations start for $40-billion road improvement project

The Government's ambitious $40-billion road improvement project, under the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme, is now in its consultation phase.

The programme, which was announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness earlier this year, had its first town hall meeting recently at the Edith Dalton James High School in Duhaney Park, St Andrew. The meeting provided an opportunity for residents to engage with various government stakeholders on the plans to improve the island's community road network.

Under the programme, it is expected that the scope of work will include improved road safety; better localised drainage; resulting in reduced travel time, lowered vehicle operating costs, and declining motor vehicle carbon emissions.

"This project is nonpartisan. It is not a political programme, regardless of what colour shirt you wear, your front end feels it, so you don't have one road for green and one for orange. Everybody uses the same road, and everybody is affected in the same way," said Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, while addressing the meeting. He argued that the success of the programme is dependent on the participation of the various communities, whose members use the 22,000 kilometres of road across Jamaica. The programme is being done through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

Kedesha Rochester, CDF director, said that a collaborative approach will be taken in the execution of the SPARK programme, noting that the consultations will assist in determining the roads to be repaired. Consultation will be done in all 228 municipal division across the country.