PM gives MPs March 31 deadline to complete consultations on roads for repair under SPARK programme

 

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has given Members of Parliament a deadline of March 31 to complete consultations in their constituencies on roads to be prioritised for repairs.

 

The repairs will be carried out under the $40 billion SPARK programme.

 

Mr Holness, speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, said following the community consultations, all recommendations for road repairs should be submitted to the National Works Agency by the end of March to ensure seamless execution of the three-year programme, "so we can having batching of roads (for repair), instead of having roads going one by one."

 

These consultations with constituents should done, "utilising the resources of the CDF (Constituency Development Fund)," he said.

 

Responding to the Prime Minister, Opposition MP Julian Robinson argued that the March 31 deadline may not be feasible.

 

"To properly organize that is difficult before the end of March... So, while I appreciate that you want and I want the projects to start and get going quickly... you may compromise the integrity of those consultations , if you push people to get it done before March 31st, given the Budget Debate, and given that we may have a local government election," Robinson observed. 

 

"What you don't want is (for) the quality of those consultations to be compromised," he warned.

 

Elaborating on his concerns, Robinson, MP for St. Andrew South East, stressed that, in organising those constitutency meetings "you have to give people proper notice, you have to ensure you invited the community based organizations, the churches etc."

 

"Those things take time; it's not something you can just do on the fly," he asserted.