The first 126 roads under the Shared Prosperity Through Accelerated Improvement to Our Road Network (SPARK) programme should be completed by June, according to minister with responsibility for works Robert Morgan.

With six work orders to be undertaken by the contractor China Harbour Engineering Company in this quarter, Morgan estimates that more than 250 roads will be addressed in a six- to eight-month period.

“That requires significant mobilisation. It requires mobilisation of resources. It requires mobilisation of personnel. You have to align with the engineers; the engineering consultant has to be aligned as well,” said Morgan.

He was responding to questions from Opposition Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Eastern Julian Robinson during Thursday’s sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of the Parliament examining the 2025/26 Estimates of Expenditure.

Morgan said 84 roads are currently being done in two separate work orders under the SPARK.

“The third work order should come out next week, which will complete the 63 constituencies, so that would have been 126 roads assigned to the contractor by next week,” he said.

He explained that the delays were caused by several factors including incomplete designs.

Apart from SPARK, Robinson wanted to know what was causing the delay in additional allocations from a $40-million road programme for each constituency announced by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness in November 2022. The Opposition spokesman on finance told the committee that his constituency had received half the amount which he used to complete a number of roads.

“For the life of me, I can get no update, in spite of my efforts, on the second half of that project,” he said.

Robinson pointed out that the estimates have been completed, the roads have been scoped, “but I cannot get an update as to when the second half of that November 2022 $40-million project is going to be completed”. He also wanted to know when funds will be made available to complete phase two of the REACH road rehab programme, which is lagging despite estimates having been done.

“When people hear announcement after announcement about SPARK, REACH, this and that, and dem road nuh fix and dem tun to di MP and dem a say why mi road cyaan get fix? And they’re frustrated and I must tell you, I struggle to be specific in the answers,” Robinson lamented.

He asserted that constituents do not care what the programme is called, “they just want to get the roads fixed”.

Morgan told Robinson he would have to do some research on what’s holding up the November 2022 allocation.