Phillips criticises $84m spend on by-elections instead of road repairs

By Kimone Witter 

   

Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western and Opposition Spokesman on Transport, Mikael Phillips, says the estimated $84 million that is to be spent to stage four parliamentary and municipal by-elections this month, could have been put towards improving the country's road infrastructure.

 

The Electoral Office of Jamaica said it submitted a budget for the by-elections to the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.

 

Mr. Phillips again took the government to task over the inadequacy of the SPARK and REACH programmes while lamenting the poor driving surfaces in his constituency.

 

"That piece of road from Spur Tree to Greenvale is in the worst condition that I have ever seen it for the 15 years that I have been in North West Manchester. That is a National Works Agency road. We have been lobbying for it. My understanding is that a contractor has been selected, but just like the pipe programme that should have started over a year and a half ago, it has not started," he bemoaned. 

 

Mr. Phillips questioned the rationale of the multi-million dollar by-election spend when that money could have been used for much-needed road rehabilitation.

 

He also questioned why more money was being allocated to government ministers than opposition MPs for road repairs. 

 

"When I hear my colleagues in Parliament standing up in the State of the Constituency Debate, talking about how many roads that they expect to be patched or rehabilitated in this financial year, I know that I am not doing anything different from they are, but yet still they are getting more money than I am getting as an opposition member of Parliament. And the question [is] why are some more special than others when it is one Jamaica that we're living in?" 

 

Mr. Phillips was speaking at the launch of free Wi-Fi service provided by the Universal Service Fund to residents of Lincoln, in the Lincoln square on Thursday.

 

His comments followed a protest about the Comfort Hall to Mile Gully road on Thursday.