Opposition Spokesperson on Transport Mikael Phillips - file photo
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Mikael Phillips
By Warren Bertram
Opposition Spokesperson on Transport Mikael Phillips says the government's allocation for road works does not account for constant maintenance required for the network.
In his budget presentation Tuesday, Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke announced that $40 billion would be spent on improvement of the road network over a three-year period, starting in the upcoming financial year.
But Mr. Phillips argues that the figure is not sufficient to cover the cost of repairs and construction, in addition to maintenance.
He suggested that limited road maintenance has been an ongoing problem, citing previous projects under the now defunct Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP), where "we put down these road networks, but then there was no maintenance after that."
Apart from maintenance, the opposition spokesman added that the $40 billion allocation is insufficient given the number of roads in need of work.
"Just by the figure from National Works Agency, we would need about $1 trillion to bring all our road networks up to acceptable standards. Seventy per cent of our roads are very poor and then we have another 20 per cent that is poor, and then you have a small percentage that is in good condition, which are mainly our new highways," he suggested.
Mr. Phillips was speaking Wednesday evening on Radio Jamaica's Beyond The Headlines.
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