TRANSPORT and works minister, Robert Pickersgill, yesterday signed a $59-million contract for the patching of 30 roads in central Jamaica.

The contract, awarded to Build Rite Construction, under the government’s Major Patching Programme.

The roads to be repaired include:

* Mile Gully to Oxford;

* Craig Head to Troy; and

* Alligator Pond to Gut River in Manchester.

* Free Town to Alley;

* Colonel’s Ridge to Kellits, and

* Parnassus to Mocho in Clarendon.

* Malvern to Mountainside;

* Red Gate to Washfoot Gully, and

* Carmel to new Market in St Elizabeth.

Pickersgill, in an apparent reference to the controversy surrounding the government’s low-income shelter programme, Operation PRIDE, said the contract for the road works had nothing to do with politics.

“Having gone through the tender process, two of eight contractors were recommended to cabinet, with the requisite blessing of the National Contracts Commission,” said the minister.

He added that “nothing less” would be accepted, and that he expects the work to be completed on time and within budget.

At the same time he urged the contractor to carry out the work efficiency and due regard to the safety of motorists and other road users. The work, he said, should also be environmentally friendly.

Pickersgill, in the meanwhile, said the National Works Agency, was striving to make Jamaica’s roads “pothole-free by 2003”.