The launch last week of long overdue rehabilitation work on the Palisadoes Road has given us a small degree of satisfaction. Small because it has taken more than five years of consistent campaigning by this newspaper for the Government to finally address, in a significant way, the dangers posed by this road.

Since the passage of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, we have been pointing to the danger of ignoring the deficiencies in the road that become apparent each time it is exposed to storm surges.

The huge mounds of sand and debris — some as high as seven feet — that Ivan deposited on the road, leaving it impassable, are still vividly etched in our memory.

In fact, it took the authorities three days to clear the blockage. The upshot was that the Norman Manley International Airport was closed for that period, effectively cutting off Kingston, the capital city, and the eastern parts of the island from airlift.

Since then, other storms and episodes of high tide have contributed to significant flooding and erosion of the road, as seawater overrode the flimsy protective barriers and deposited sand and stones on the roadway, posing grave danger to motorists.

The Government, therefore, will pardon us if we hold our applause until we see the project completed and are satisfied that it will give greater protection to people using the road, and to the country in general.

We are also pleased with the way China-Jamaica relations are progressing. The China Ex-Im Bank, we are told, will be the primary financiers of the project, providing US$65.7-million (J$5.85 billion) or 85 per cent of the cost. The remainder is the responsibility of the Jamaican Government.

China Harbour Engineering Company, described as one of the premier maritime contractors in the world, is in charge of the project under which the Palisadoes Road will be lifted six to eight feet higher.

Part of the plan as well is to build a boardwalk which can accommodate jogging and an entertainment facility. They also intend to run underground power cables from the Harbour View roundabout to the airport.

Impressive.

Our report last Friday said that in addition to protecting the shoreline and the Kingston Harbour, where there will also be additional expansion work, Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry said the long-term view of development of the area is to connect it with the remainder of the highway network across the country and generally expand the business community and the possibilities that exist therein.

The vision, we believe, is to be commended. For we have always maintained that a proper highway network is essential to the development of the country. That was why we supported Highway 2000 from its inception.

Minister Henry, therefore, is correct in his assessment that the four-lane highway that will run from the Harbour View roundabout to the Norman Manley International Airport will give people arriving “an impression of a country moving forward”.

However, Minister Henry and his Government will need to do much more than that to make that impression lasting and meaningful. They need to seriously address the country’s nagging crime problem, as failure to do so will keep potential investors at bay.

And even as they seek to attract investors, the Government cannot continue to frustrate those investors’ efforts with the kind of ridiculous bureaucracy that still exists in the public service.

There remains a lot of work to be done.