US$20m more for north coast highway project
WESTERN BUREAU — The government will have to find an additional US$20 million to complete segment two of the North Coast Highway Improvement Project that spans 95 kilometers between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, as a result of an increase in the scope of the work.
The increased cost stems from an expansion of the scope of the work, which will also see the completion date being pushed back from next year to 2005.
According to project director at the Northern Jamaica Development Project (NJDP), Desmond Malcolm, the work which was originally budgeted to cost roughly US$100 million is now expected to be completed at a cost of about US$120 million.
Under the financing arrangements, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has provided a loan of US$60.4 million while the government was expected to contribute roughly US$40 million. Malcolm said the government would provide the additional funds because it is committed to the project.
The changes, he said, include:
* the addition of two bypasses and underpasses;
* paving of the shoulders of the roadway;
* the relocation of utilities;
* more major alignments; and
* the establishment of a four-lane road from the Airport round-about in Montego Bay to the Sea Castle hotel area in Rosehall. The original plan was to have the four-lane roadway from the Airport round-about to Ironshore.
Malcolm was speaking with the Observer shortly after making a presentation at a National Works Agency (NWA) town meeting in Montego Bay on Wednesday.
He told the meeting that the project, which began almost two years ago, would not meet the June 2004 deadline; but is now expected to be completed by the middle of 2005.
“And it is not because of tardiness of the contractors but the scope of the project was enlarged because we wanted to make it better for you,” he told his audience.
Segment two of the North Coast Highway project, which is being financed by the IDB and the Jamaican Government, is divided into four sections.
Section one covers the 27.4 kilometers from Montego Bay to the Falmouth bypass, while the 41.77 kilometers from the bypass to Salem is covered under sections two and three, and the fourth section will include the 21.81 kilometers between Salem and Ocho Rios.
The project, Malcolm told the meeting, was 43 per cent complete at the end of August. Most of the work, he said, is now being carried out in the parishes of Trelawny and St James.
