Major road improvement projects to be completed by the end of 2019
The National Works Agency (NWA) is reporting that the multibillion-dollar legacy road infrastructure upgrading projects, aimed at improving traffic flow in the Corporate Area and Westmoreland, should be completed by year end.
The projects
fall under the Government of Jamaica’s Major Infrastructure Development Programme
(MIDP), which is being financed through a concessionary loan from the
Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Export-Import Bank of
China.
These
developments are the US$56-million Hagley Park Road Improvement Project, the
US$1.1-million Barbican Road Upgrade Project, US$19-million Constant Spring
Road Improvement Project, the US$64-million Mandela Highway Realignment and
Reconstruction Project, and the US$24.9-million Ferris Cross to Mackfield
Project.
NWA’s communication and customer services manager, Stephen Shaw said that “steady progress” is being made on the projects, which are at varying stages of completion.
“We are working
with a view to having the activities completed, certainly by the end of the
year,” he said.
Shaw said that 95 per cent of the Hagley Park Road development has already been done, pointing out that “it is our intention to bring that figure closer to 100 before the end of October”.
He says the
second layer of asphaltic concrete has been laid, which should result in
motorists experiencing smoother travel on the road.
The NWA representative said that the focus has shifted to paving activities on all the side roads, pointing out that “we also have some work to complete along Spanish Town Road in the vicinity of the overhead bridges.” He added that work will also be done on the sidewalks.
Meanwhile, he
said that the second phase of upgrading works, just beyond the Acadia
intersection along Barbican Road is about 98 per cent complete.
As for the Constant
Spring Road improvement project, Shaw said that it is 85 per cent complete
while the US$64-million Mandela Highway Realignment and Reconstruction
project is 99 per cent complete.
The
Communication Manager also informs that the Ferris Cross to Mackfield Road in
Westmoreland is nearing 100 per cent completion. The work on Camp Road in
Kingston is 65 per cent complete, he said.
