ST ANDREW, Jamaica- The date for the completion of the eastern leg of the South Coastal Highway Improvement Project has been moved to August of this year from the April date announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness while making his contribution to the 2023/2024 Budget Debate in the House of Representative.

This update was given on Thursday during a tour of the 14-kilometre four-lane roadway from Harbour View in St Andrew to the Yallahs Bridge in St Thomas by Holness and representatives of the National Works Agency (NWA).

READ: Work on Southern Coastal Highway progressing steadily, says Holness

The reason for the extension, according to EG Hunter, CEO of the NWA, is the “amended scope of the contract” which was given.

“Importantly it should be understood that the original contract was a road only contract and then the government subsequently amended the scope of the contract to include water supply, and sewage in some instances and ducts for fibre optic cable,” Hunter said.

“That has complicated the construction and therefore has added to the timeline so we are now projecting that this section of the work will be completed in August this year,” he added.

An additional $22.1 billion had been allocated to continue work on the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project, which had been budgeted in the 2023/2024 Estimates of Expenditure tabled in the House of Representative by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke.

Holness said that with the completion of this section of the project and the Yallahs Bridge, residents will be able to access the eastern end of the island in the event of flooding due to extreme weather conditions. He went on to describe the work completed thus far as “world class”.

“This piece of infrastructure here, this 14 kilometres, will open up this region in a significant way and it will certainly – at completion— ensure that access to the eastern end of the island is seamless. You will recall that many years ago there was a famous can’t cross it video [and] it was in this area that it happened because it was flooded. And many Jamaicans would remember that whenever we had serious weather events this section of the country would sometimes be cut off, the bridge was impassable and people couldn’t move,” Prime Minister Holness explained.

“We are now standing on a piece of infrastructure here, a bridge that in any country would be considered world class. It is a magnificent piece of infrastructure— this four-lane bridge— which will ensure that the eastern end of the island is not cut off when there is a serious weather event,” he reiterated.