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Robert Morgan, Minister with responsibility for Works
By Nakinskie Robinson
The public can expect better road conditions by April, when the first set of roads being rehabilitated under the SPARK programme are expected to be completed.
Minister with responsibility for Works, Robert Morgan, says with preliminary site visits underway for more than 42 roads in 21 constituencies across eight parishes, work will also begin in the Corporate Area this week.
Work is progressing along Everest Drive in Eastern Kingston, the first work site under SPARK.
Minister Morgan said some of the roads included in the first phase of rehabilitation include Bellevue Avenue in Kingston Eastern and Port Royal; Bustamante Highway and North Street from King Street to Crab Ground in Kingston Western; Passion Gardens and Bayview Retreat in St. Andrew East Rural; Buttercup Drive, Doherty Drive in St. Andrew Eastern.
Other roads included in the first phase are: Liguanea Avenue and Richings Avenue in St. Andrew North Eastern; Upper Aries, and Orange Grove Road in St. Andrew North Central; Mahoe Drive and Susan Avenue in St. Catherine South Eastern; New Nursery and Jones Avenue in St. Catherine Eastern.
This phase is valued at $1.911 billion.
Assessments are underway to begin rehabilitation work across other constituencies.
"Work Order 2, which will cover 42 additional roads across 21 constituencies, is expected to commence in late February. And Work Order 3, which is another 42 roads across a final 21 constituencies, is scheduled to begin in early March. At the end, all constituencies will get an initial two SPARK roads before the end of the financial year. And we expect that these three work orders will be completed by June of this year," he announced in the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon.
An estimated 126 roads are expected to be repaired under SPARK this financial year.
The Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation will strictly oversee project timelines, contractor and quality performance to ensure accountability and efficiency.
Members of Parliament and local stakeholders are being urged to participate in the monitoring process.
Bridges
Meanwhile, Minister Morgan also announced that the rehabilitation of bridges under the Accelerated bridge programme is a collaborative effort with stakeholders in the UK.
Under the US$100 million project, 55 bridges will be rehabilitated.
"The project is about 68 months away in terms of procurement and implementation and so on. Part of the reason why we went this direction is that the procurement process is much shorter. It's a partnership between Jamaica and the UK. So they deal with the funding, they deal with the engagement of the producers of the bridges and so on. And then they also engage someone else to install the bridges when they come to Jamaica. There's no local procurement, but there's a process to build the bridges, design the bridges," he explained.
UK-based company Lagan is the principal contractor while Acrow is responsible for supplying the bridges, ensuring high quality structures.
Bridges set for upgrades and repairs include Black River bridge in St. Elizabeth and Rio Cobre Dam pedestrian bridge in St. Catherine.
The programme is expected to boost connectivity, reduce travel time and provide safer crossings for users.
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