Prime Minister Andrew Holness says his government will address the crisis of bad roads across Jamaica by implementing a multi-pronged enterprise level strategy which involves both temporary and long-term solutions.

According to Holness, the government is aware of and sensitive to public discontent about the difficulty in vehicular commute across the island and is moving to address the issue. Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday, at a time when concerns in the public domain have intensified due to a number of roads deteriorating following recent adverse weather, Holness said:  “We are going to fix your roads and when it is done, it will be transformational”.

He added: “Patching is important to bring short term relief however we are putting systems in place that will become institutional, systems which will endure and solve the problem over the short, medium and long term”.

The prime minister also argued that past administrations have not been able to address the challenge of poor roads in Jamaica given that they did not have the fiscal space to do so due to factors which include substandard management of the economy.

He said his administration has solved the challenge of Jamaica’s economic management and has put the country in a position to be able to place $5- billion into a contingency fund to respond to climate change events which cause infrastructural damage.

Holness also credited sound fiscal management by his government for its ability to allocate approximately $45-billion to the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme without having to seek help from lending agencies.

He told the media briefing that the implementation phase of the SPARK programme should get underway shortly.

“The project is well underway. You’re not yet seeing the actual asphalt hitting the road, but believe me when I tell you the asphalt putting on the road is maybe 20 per cent of the entire project. From the conception phase to public investment assessment to contracting to procurement and then implementation, it’s a lengthy process which the law requires us to observe. We have to review those laws to enable us to deliver in quicker time.

“However, I am hopeful that we will begin to see implementation of the programme, interms of asphalt hitting the roadway, before the year ends,” said Holness.

He cited disinvestment in the island’s road infrastructure, a major increase in the number of vehicles on the nation’s roadway and the intensifying impact of climate change on the under-prepared road network as some of the reasons for the current substandard condition of many roads.

“If you put all of these things together, it is quite understandable why all Jamaicans are frustrated with the road situation. I want to say to the country that the Government is aware of it. The Government is not insensitive to it. Yes, we must respond by patching the road, it gives temporary relief but if you really want to see a transformational change in Jamaica’s road circumstances in the same way that we have transformed our financial circumstances, it takes enterprise level plan to do it,” said Holness.