Montego Bay — The first phase of the North Coast Highway project has missed so many deadlines that even Transport Minister Bobby Pickersgill cannot clearly remember the original completion date.

During a tour of the project Friday, the minister was stumped when asked to remind reporters of the original completion date and cost.

“Oh, oops, I’m not too sure about that, yes that was so long,” he said with a sheepish grin.

The project was started in September 1999, at a cost of US$48 million and was originally slated to be completed in September 1999. But a raft of problems, including money troubles experienced by the Korean contractors, industrial disputes and problems with the supply of the materials needed on the project, have all contributed to its delay.

To date, the Montego Bay to Negril leg of the project has missed three deadlines: September 1999, August 2000 and December 31, 2000. Last September, when it became clear that it would not meet the December 2001 date, Prime Minister P J Patterson himself charged the National Works Agency to ensure that the project was completed by no later than March of this year.

The Works Agency was brought in after segments of the project were sub-contracted out in a bid to speed it along after the Koreans ran into trouble.

On Friday, Pickersgill charged that “every effort” is being made to meet the March deadline.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that we are behind time. That is why we have to make every effort to achieve this last date,” he said.

The minister added: “We are endeavouring our utmost and the strict, the very, very strict stipulation is that yes, we are supposed to achieve the March date. The schedule has not only been generally worked out, but it has been worked out in specifics and we are going to attempt, as best we can, to adhere to that. Because the longer you take, the more money; and nobody wants to spend money unnecessarily.”

But according to deputy leader of the opposition Jamaica Labour Party, with responsibility for the western region, Ed Bartlett, there is no way the March date can be met.

“All the engineers we talked to say it can’t be finished before August, at least, and some say 18 months more,” he said.

He also maintained that the project’s revised budget was now J$1 billion over the original estimate.

On Friday, attempts to get an idea of the cost overrun were unsuccessful as minister Pickersgill refused to discuss the current price tag.

“As I said previously, we don’t want to get into that. When the project is finished we’ll have the figures and then the questions can be asked,” he said.