The 63 Members of Parliament (MPs) will each be allocated a minimum of $150 million under the Government’s ambitious $40 billion SPARK programme to rehabilitate the country’s creaking road network.

Remaining amounts will be allocated to each constituency depending on the volume of the road network to be repaired to ensure fairness, while an amount will be reserved by the Government to address roads that may not have been considered during consultations that are to be spearheaded by the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the announcement on Tuesday as he gave an update on the programme during a statement in the House of Representatives.

A breakdown of how the funds will be allocated shows that $20 billion of the amount will be set aside to address main roads where the rehabilitation/repairs are much more than resurfacing and may include the replacement of water and sewage infrastructure.

The remaining $20 billion will be used to rehabilitate parochial and community roads. Of this amount, $10 billion will be divided equally among the 63 constituencies.

“The remaining $10 billion will be allocated to constituencies based on the mileage of roads in each constituency relative to the total mileage of roads to be repaired,” the prime minister explained. He said the Ministry of Local Government and the National Works Agency (NWA have been tasked with updating their register of roads to facilitate the process.

SPARK (Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network) is designed to address secondary, parochial and community roads across the island over the next three years.

“The primary goal of this programme is to address the persistent deterioration of the country’s road network, enhance mobility, safety, and accessibility, while promoting economic development and improving the overall wellbeing and road experience for local communities and businesses,” said Holness.

The programme encompasses various improvements, including targeted enhancement to road surfaces and intersections, installation of localised drainage and culverts, bolstering road safety through retaining walls and guard rails and implementing pedestrian facilities at selected locations.

“A crucial element of the SPARK programme involves a fair, transparent and accountable process for identifying and selecting the road projects to be implemented.

“The success of the programme hinges on collaborative efforts and active engagement at both the governmental and community levels. It is imperative that the people, represented by their elected officials, play a significant role in the identification and selection of projects,” the prime minister emphasised.

He noted that the CDF will play a lead role in the programme given its mandate to foster community empowerment and promoting socio-economic progress.

“It is deemed an ideal vehicle for conducting the consultative process through which suitable projects for the SPARK programme will be identified,” he said.

MPS, through the CDF will be asked to organise community consultations by parish council division with the active involvement of the relevant government agencies. These include the Social Development Commission, municipal corporations, the NWA, National Water Commission and the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Churches, schools and business are also expected to be part of the consultations which Holness said aim to collect recommendations on the roads to be repaired and their priority order.

MPs have been given until the end of March to have the consultations completed and priority road projects submitted. “This is to facilitate the streamlining of the project implementation process from project conception to execution,” Holness noted.