MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Manchester residents have expressed hopes that the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) road-improvement project will deliver repairs to roads which have not been fixed for a long time and some which have never benefitted from upgrade work.

The sentiments were revealed during the latest SPARK consultation forum which took place at Manchester High in the constituency of Manchester Central. It comes ahead of the implementation phase of the Government’s $40 billion project.

The consultation was attended by scores of stakeholders including residents from across the constituency.

Speaking after the session, Member of Parliament, Rhoda Crawford said, “Many of these roads have not been repaired for decades. Some have never, ever been rehabilitated using asphalt. Persons left the meeting feeling very hopeful, very excited. So, we’re now looking forward to the review, the selection, the procurement, and, of course, the implementation. We’re just very happy, very excited about this program, and we’re looking forward to modernise our community, as many roads as possible across Manchester Central,” Crawford said.

The MP noted that the session was well represented across all four divisions within the constituency.

The SPARK programme was announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness during his presentation in the 2023-204 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives last March.

The road-improvement project is aimed at modernising more than 2,000 roads islandwide. It is being funded by the central government and therefore after consultations, MPs are responsible for submitting to the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation the list of roads that are to be repaired.

Constituency consultation exercises began last month and are to continue over the next few weeks.