Edmund Bartlett's much vaunted Spruce Up Jamaica Programme suffered a setback after its high price tab - $815 million, or 22 times the current annual budget for resort maintenance - apparently scared off the cash-rich Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF).

TEF board members took a look at the $815,736,876.09 cost of Phase Two of the "Spruce Up Jamaica Programme Maintenance and 'WoW' Effect Project" and voted to send it back to the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) for more details that could justify that massive bill, said an Observer source close to the fund.

"To maintain the island's six tourist resort towns, the current budget is $3 million a month or $36 million a year. Yes, the budget is inadequate, but $815 million is quite a stretch," said the source who asked for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak for the TEF.

The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) and the TPDCo are the key implementing agencies.

Both TEF executive director Ian Neita and TPDCo chairman Robert Russell separately confirmed the project had been sent back for reworking, but the two officials said it was not a rejection of the Spruce Up Jamaica project, which Bartlett hoped would transform the appearance of the resort towns.
Neita said the board had asked TPDCo to carry out "additional due diligence", such as the provision of "more details on the pricing and scope of the project".

"We didn't think it reached the point where it was ready for the board and it is a lot of money in any language," said Neita. "We have to make sure that we have covered all the bases."

But Neita also acknowledged that the project had many good ideas for resort development which were necessary to ensure they were attractive to visitors.

Russell said the TEF had requested more work from TPDCo's quantity surveyors and that the fund would also check with its own quantity surveyor to ensure that all the figures added up.

"They have not turned us down at all. On the face of it, some of the proposals did seem excessive because we did not include all the verification details and the fund members just wanted to ensure that everything was above board," Russell admitted to the Observer.

The tourism ministry is increasingly relying on the TEF, with its $3 billion in resources, to finance upgrading projects in the tourism sector. The Spruce Up Jamaica programme, which uses a popular term in the local lexicon, is aimed at enhancing the six resort towns - Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril, Port Antonio, Kingston and Runaway Bay - but is extended to other areas across the island.

The works include removal of garbage; removal of graffiti and posters from sidewalks, residential and commercial walls and light posts; bushing of roads; repair of sidewalks; painting of kerb walls; streetscape in urban centres; installation of street furniture; installation of flowering plants; hardscaping of selected areas, mounting of flags and welcome billboards.

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