KINGSTON, Jamaica- The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) is promising to set aside two per cent of the national budget for municipal corporations to use for road repairs and the provision of piped water, among other things, if it forms the next government.

The promise was made Thursday night during the first of two televised debates between the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), ahead of the February 26 local government election. The debates are organised by the Jamaica Debates Commission.

Councillor-candidate for the Maxfield Division in St Andrew East Central, Dennis Gordon expounded on the promise as he responded to a social media question about the parties’ plans for the development of sustainable infrastructure in rural communities.

“We are presenting tonight, to the people of Jamaica, a contract as to what we will get done; two per cent of GDP to fund local government is what we’re proposing,” Gordon stated.

He explained that two per cent of current GDP would yield $20 billion “of which each municipal division will have $87.7 million to do more for its citizens”. According to Gordon who sat in the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation, the corporations have been starved of cash and policy “and we’re saying that as a progressive organisation we put people at the centre of what we do and so with more resources we’ll be better able to address your roads.”

Continuing, Gordon said “Our roads are in the worst condition in our history, our garbage is not being collected and nothing has been done for education. A new PNP Administration will get the requisite funding from the central government to undertake the cost of providing the critical services.”

The PNP’s Natalie Neita-Garvey, the party’s spokesperson on local government, added that “It is our plan as well to ensure that there’s going to be accountability at every level so we are insisting that there will be a Divisional Development Fund for every single parish council division across Jamaica”.

The member of parliament for St Catherine East Central explained that the fund will be similar to the Constituency Development Fund for members of parliament. She said there will have to be a development plan for each division which will include participation from citizens. “It  is important that we stop treating local government like the poor cousin, it’s important that team JLP understands that what we consider to be the vital part of our development must be at the local level,” Neita-Garvey said.

Responding to the PNP, Senator Charles Sinclair, the incumbent  councillor for the Montego Bay North East Division, said the JLP is not just talk.

“We’re about action,” Sinclair said, while pointing to the Development Orders that have been put in place by the JLP Administration “right across Jamaica.”

“We have set in place how development should take place in the particular place that they take place,” he said, while pointing to Chambers Pen in Hanover where he highlighted that a complete development plan is being implemented.

This includes the overhaul of the water systems to the tune of more than $250 million. Sinclair also said Flower Hill in St James was benefitting from an upgrade to its water supply system at a cost of over $100 million. He said the community of several hundred residents had been without water for over 30 years.

And Mayor of Port Maria, Richard Creary, who also represented the JLP during the debate, pointed to the $40 billion SPARK programme to rehabilitate over 2,000 roads islandwide, including community roads over the next two years. Each of the 63 members of parliament has been allocated a minimum of $150 million under the initiative.

“I never knew that in my lifetime a government of Jamaica could spend $40 billion without borrowing like my colleagues on that side,” Creary remarked.

The JLP was also represented by Venesha Phillips who switched allegiance from the PNP. She is hoping to retain the Papine Division she won on a PNP ticket.

Allan Bernard, who is challenging Sinclair in Montego Bay North East, was the third member representing the PNP.