A mayor aligned to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, the Opposition spokesman on roads, and representatives of two housing developments have all welcomed a suggestion that the Government assume responsibility for roads within the country’s housing schemes. However, they have all suggested tweaks to the proposal.

In a private member’s motion submitted in Parliament on November 12, former works minister Everald Warmington (Jamaica Labour Party, St Catherine South Western) called on the Government to “immediately assume responsibility” for and begin — when funds are available — repairing and rehabilitating these roads to make them fit for use.

He framed the motion, which he stressed that he has raised in the past, within the context of decades of neglect that have led to “severe difficulties and suffering” by the country’s less fortunate.

Asked to comment on Warmington’s motion, Mayor of Montego Bay Councillor Richard Vernon (Jamaica Labour Party, Montego Bay South Division) described it as a “fair” assessment.

“The governance structure that exists has caused many communities to be in no man’s land, particularly subdivisions that were poorly done and cheaply approved in the past. It is a common response of local authorities that a particular community has not been ‘handed over’; hence, maintenance can’t be assumed by the local authority,” Vernon told the Jamaica Observer.

“In most cases, the developer is nowhere to be found, so the community is left procedurally unattended. It is also true that local authorities refuse to assume responsibility, as the development is subpar compliance, which may have or may not have been [caused by] the dereliction of the current officers,” he added.

Under Warmington’s motion, the suggestion is that developments would only be approved if there is an agreement that “all road infrastructure and common areas” will become the property of the State as soon as land titles are distributed.

The Meadows of Irwin Citizens’ Association (MOICA) has given strong support to his suggestion on how to handle roads. But it baulked at turning over community-owned common areas, including green spaces, to the Government.

“As a gated community, MOICA has invested significantly in creating and maintaining a safe, organised, and cohesive living environment. We urge that any action resulting from this motion respect the autonomy of housing schemes like ours, allowing us to retain governance over internal community affairs while benefiting from enhanced road infrastructure management,” MOICA told the Sunday Observer.

Also providing conditional support for Warmington’s motion is the Montego West Village Benevolent Society (MWVBS), which said their 10 kilometres of road were handed over to the St James Municipal Corporation in 2021. MWVBS pointed out that the roads have deteriorated rapidly, and there has been no maintenance done even though a condition of handover was for the developer “to allocate funds specifically for road maintenance for the first two years”.

It suggested that before taking on additional tasks, the Government do a better job of effectively maintaining existing roads — an undertaking that includes ensuring taxes are fairly collected so that there will be funds available to do work needed.

The issue of funding was also raised by shadow minister for works Mikael Phillips, who told the Sunday Observer the Opposition, generally, supports Warmington’s call.

“For central government to maintain scheme roads is not something that we would not support. But [the issue] is who takes responsibility for them, and how is the financing done in dealing with them? If it is that the National Housing Trust still has responsibility for them, then what role do they play in the maintenance of these scheme roads?” he mused.

Phillips pointed to the need for the issue to be explored within the context of a broader discussion.

“I have been saying for quite a while that we need to relook at re-establishing a road maintenance fund, seeding it properly, and putting in the proper legislation for it to do what it is meant to do. We will never, ever be able to finance the maintenance of our roads — be it housing scheme, municipal or NWA [National Works Agency] roads — with the model that we have right now. Central government will never be able to finance it the way that it needs to be financed. So we need to have that conversation on a proper road maintenance programme,” he said.

Mayor Vernon is also of the view that there is a need for “a new approach to infrastructure management”. In order to allow central government to focus on expansion and redevelopment, he wants to see a merger of NWA’s local offices with municipal corporations’ roads and works departments to create an agile local body that can regularly maintain all local roads, traffic lights and signs, as well as drains and gullies. It would be funded through property taxes, motor vehicle licence fees, and consolidated funds in the annual budget.

The mayor also suggested the need to “create an infrastructure oversight body” that will ensure Bureau of Standards Jamaica guidelines are met, procurement procedures are followed, transparency is guaranteed, key performance indicators are established, as well as ensure that monitoring and evaluation is built into each local body.

Vernon also called for the wrapping up of an ongoing local government ministry effort to compile a database of community roads within each municipality.

“These adjustments would bring a new approach to infrastructure management but will also ensure that the economic success of the country is translated into tangible experience in our communities, where it matters most. If I may, a national unified infrastructure authority won’t be as effective as one created at the municipal level with the requisite capacity and funding,” he said.