PRIME Minister Andrew Holness is advising the remaining Members of Parliament (MPs) who have not yet done their community consultations on the Government’s $40-billion Shared Prosperity Through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme, to do so as quickly as possible so that the initiative remains on track.

He noted that 70 roads have already been identified for repair and have been referred to National Works Agency (NWA) to be scoped and costed. Meetings have so far been held in nine constituencies in Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon, and St Elizabeth.

It is expected that at least nine constituencies will be done per week, with meetings now scheduled across 40 constituencies over the next month.

Holness, who was making a statement to Parliament on Tuesday, said it is crucial to have the consultations completed and all the roads selected for repair in constituencies to ensure an efficient bidding process for the works to be undertaken.

“The bid proposals will be informed by the main roads that have been selected by the NWA and from constituencies, coming out of consultations,” he said.

The prime minister noted that 10 construction companies — six local and four international — participated in the pre-bid meeting for pre-qualification. Four pre-qualified bidders are to be selected.

“Once the four pre-qualified bidders have been selected, you then have to go out and scope the works so that they get a good understanding of what the cost is…for the repair of roads so it is best that they have the actual roads that they are going to bid for. If the consultations are not completed then what will happen is that they will be essentially examining an estimated set of roads that the NWA has already, but that estimated set might not be the exact set after this. So, I am imploring Members of Parliament to coordinate with the Constituency Development Fund office to have your consultations so that the pool of roads that are going to be addressed is the pool of roads that will inform the unit price for which the pre-qualified bidders will use to compete,” he said.

He added: “So it is absolutely important that your role of getting the consultation and getting the road selection, that that is done; ideally we would like to have all the roads selected by the end of June. So the 70 roads that have already been selected, they have been submitted to the NWA. Those are being costed and those will be available for the four pre-qualified contractors to look at, do their own internal estimates, come up with their own price, so that they can compete for them,” he said,

Holness further explained that awards will be done in four packages of approximate equal value, roughly between $7 and $8 billion per package. These are: package one – Kingston, St Andrew, St Thomas; package two – St Catherine and Clarendon; package 3 – Manchester, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland and Hanover; and package four – St James, Trelawny, St Ann, St Mary and Portland.

The works, he said, will include pavement resurfacing/rehabilitation; sidewalk rehabilitation; drainage improvements; waterline improvements; retaining wall construction; and intersection improvement at strategic locations.

In addition to this, works for the main roads under the NWA will also include the installation of fibre-optic ducts; retaining wall construction along selected corridors; and improvement of parking areas and bus stops.

Holness noted that the pre-qualification documents were available for download as of Monday, April 22 and the tender period will now close on Friday, May 24, 2024.

He said that evaluation will be done by May 31, 2024 to select pre-qualified bidders based on established criteria, including capacity and work experience. Pre-qualified bidders will be invited to submit bid proposals by August 15, 2024. It is expected that the evaluation and award of contract will be done by September 30, 2024.

Holness explained that in seeking to obtain the best available skills for effective management and implementation of these works, competitive bidding was advertised internationally.

“From this programme we expect to get the best outcomes, and we believe that we must widen the pool of available skills for implementation of the works. The procurement rules allow for different approaches to contracting for works,” he said.

Holness said, however, that under international competitive bidding, local contractors are encouraged and expected to submit tenders either singly or in association with other local contractors or, if they choose, they can form a consortium with local or other international companies.

SPARK, to be undertaken over two years, is a road improvement project aimed at modernising more than 2,000 roads islandwide.

The programme also forms the basis of a comprehensive road infrastructure management strategy, including the development of a comprehensive register of all roads and an alignment of engineering lifetime schedules with budgetary allocation.