NEGRIL’S business leaders too are concerned at a government decision to reduce, by half, the thickness of the asphalt that will pave sections of the first section of the North Coast Highway.

They have been advised by the experts that this new major road that will link their town with Montego Bay, the other major north shore resort, will begin to deteriorate in five years and say that doesn’t seem to make economic sense.

According to Daniel Grizzle, a hotelier and a director of the Negril Chamber of Commerce, Negril’s business leaders were made aware of the issue of the new paving standards for the road at a meeting last week with officials close to the project.

“What they were saying is that normally they would have given a 20-year guarantee on the work but now they are not giving any guarantee because they think it will only last for five years,” Grizzle told the Sunday Observer.

“If that is true, we are really concerned about that.”

Apparently, the Negril section of the highway will be paved in accordance with the original engineering specs, but according to Grizzle, Negril’s business community is not assuaged by that.

“We’re still in Jamaica and it’s still the road from Negril to Montego Bay,” he said. “If half of it is going to crumble then I think maybe they should give some consideration to reinstating it to the proper thickness. Five years is a very short time for a road when you put out that much money.”

Similar concerns about new specifications for paving the road were raised late last year by president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, Mark Kerr-Jarrett. At the time, the transport ministry had sought to reassure the public that the changes would not have a major impact on the project, as the asphalt would only be reduced in sections that have a strong sub-base.

The construction of this phase of the highway has been a major cause of angst for both Negril and Montego Bay for years. Poor road conditions during the building phase affected their tourist industries and disrupted community life.

The project, started in 1997, has missed several deadlines, the first being September 1999. It also missed dates for August 2000 and December 31, 2001.

Part of the problem was that Bosung Engineering, the Korean construction firm that initially won the contract, had bid low to get the job. It was seeking a toe-hold in the Caribbean and had intended to subsidise this venture but was caught by the decline in the Korean economy during the Asian meltdown.

The government, in a bid to speed up the job, has drafted several sub-contractors and has said that the project will cost US$48 million, $15 million higher than what Bosung had bid but in line with what its own engineers had projected to be the cost.

Prime Minister P J Patterson recently insisted that the road be completed by the end of this month, apparently intending it to be a showpiece with which to enter the election campaign.

The thickness of the asphalt cover apart, Negril hoteliers just want the project to be completed.

“We can’t face another winter season with it,” said Grizzle. “Right now, when the travel agents ask us about when it’s going to be finished, we dare not comment.”