MANY Jamaican communities will have to contend with the fact that roads promised for rehabilitation under the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme will not materialise.

With 10 roads selected per constituency for a total of 630 local roads, plus 30 main roads, the $40-billion budget for the Government’s most ambitious roadwork programme is falling
short.

This reality was conveyed by senior staff of the National Works Agency (NWA) and the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development when they appeared before Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) on Wednesday.

“What you find happening, members, on average per constituency, we’re coming out somewhere in the region of about six roads per constituency across the island,” said senior director, project implementation in the ministry Varden Downer, who provided an update on the programme.

For his part, NWA Chief Executive Officer Everton Hunter explained that there is a fixed budget for each constituency which appears not to have been taken into consideration when the roads were being selected through a series of community consultations.

Hunter told PAAC members that a rider, perhaps, should have been included as he highlighted that one Member of Parliament (MP) went as far as to mount billboards displaying the 10 roads in the constituency.

“At the time of the community consultations, when the 10 roads were identified, nobody knew at that point in time what the cost for any of the roads [would be]. So notwithstanding the fact that 10 roads were identified, the number of roads that can be undertaken based on the budget depends on the cost of each road,” said Hunter.

“To the extent that the cost of the first or second road chosen are substantial, in terms of their cost, it’s the extent to which limited funds remain from the budget to undertake the other roads,” Hunter added.

Following the general election held last September, several new MPs were installed, the majority on the Opposition benches. Several expressed their frustration to Hunter on Wednesday with the representative for Clarendon Northern Wavell Hinds telling the committee that he was informed that only five roads will be addressed in his constituency.

The MP for St Mary Central Omar Newell also voiced concerns, so too the MP for St James Southern Nekeisha Burchell.

Government member, the MP for St James Central Heroy Clarke, meanwhile, took a swipe at Opposition members telling them that “the Bill that you were fighting last [Tuesday] night would help to solve some of the problems you’re facing”.

He was referring to the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill that was passed in the House early Wednesday morning after a marathon debate.

With just 60 per cent of the community roads certain to be addressed, that leaves 252 roads that will likely not be touched.

SPARK has an overall fixed $45-billion budget with $5 billion set aside for the water component and the remainder dedicated to roads. The $40 billion for roads is split evenly between community roads and main roads. The $5 billion allocated for the water component of the SPARK is also coming up short, in part because some roads that were not slated for pipe-laying or upgrade were later determined to be in need of pipes.

“It is our view that, based on the needs of the water supply component which we have seen on the ground as we go through the construction, there will be the need for additional funds. We have projected to our parent ministry that we need somewhere of the order of around $2.6 billion more to treat with pipeline construction as well as materials,” Downer told the committee.

He said to date seven work orders have been issued for 313 roads islandwide with final work order for the local and community roads to be issued in short order to the contractor, China Harbour Engineering Company. Of the 313 roads, 107 have already been completed and 89 are in progress.

The main road component of the SPARK is expected to get underway in a matter of weeks.

Varden shared that the value of the seven work orders already issued is $13.6 billion, with the amount already certified being $10.4 billion. He said there were delays as a result of Hurricane Melissa, which caused about $30 million in damage to SPARK roads, but described the amount as small, noting that the roads stood up well because of the high standard to which they are built.

The new completion date for the programme is April 2027.

HUNTER…there is a fixed budget for each constituency which appears not to have been taken into consideration when the roads were being selected.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness (left) speaks with chief executive officer of the National Works Agency EG Hunter, at a contract-signing ceremony for the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme, held at the Office of the Prime Minister on December 5, 2024.

Drainage upgrade underway along Susan Avenue in Portmore, St Catherine in March 2025, as part of $45 billion SPARK programme