TROY, Trelawny — Arguing that it could have cost taxpayers at least 30 per cent less if completed four years ago, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Friday declared there were lessons to learnt from the five-year journey to construct the $230-million Troy Bridge.

According to Holness, the project hammered home the point that “good governance must mean more than following procedures” and must ultimately be measured by its ability to deliver results.

Speaking on Friday during the official opening of the bridge, which replaces a 152-year-old structure damaged during the passage of Tropical Storm Grace in 2021, Holness said the protracted process to restore the vital crossing highlighted weaknesses in Jamaica’s public bureaucracy and underscored the need for reform.

“Good governance must also be in delivering outcomes. A modern State must be capable of asking the necessary questions without endlessly delaying the necessary answer,” Holness said.

“We’re not going to allow critical infrastructure to be tied up in procedures and processes that satisfy procedures and processes and don’t deliver. Let Troy be a lesson to Jamaica,” added Holness.

The prime minister described the bridge as more than an infrastructure project for the residents of Troy and surrounding communities.

“Like much of our infrastructure, people scarcely note it when it was working, but when Tropical Storm Grace destroyed the bridge in 2021 everyone suddenly understood its value,” he said.

Holness recounted that the loss of the crossing disrupted daily life for residents, forcing students to travel greater distances to school and increasing transportation costs for farmers moving produce to market.

Addressing concerns about the length of time it took to complete the replacement bridge, Holness acknowledged what he called a “legitimate question” that had been raised repeatedly by Jamaicans.

The prime minister recalled that support for rebuilding the bridge transcended political divisions, as both the then Speaker of the House, Member of Parliament for Trelawny Southern Marisa Dalrymple Philibert, who represents one side of the bridge; and Member of Parliament for the Manchester North Western, Mikael Phillips, who represented the other side, had expressed concern about the issue.

“So there was a bi-partisan agreement that the Troy Bridge must be fixed. But there is such a thing as procedure,” he said.

Holness argued that while accountability and transparency remain important, excessive bureaucracy can delay urgently needed projects and impose significant costs on citizens.

“The people of Troy did not need an endless debate, they just simply needed a bridge,” he said.

“Empathy requires us to reconsider not only the risk of action, but the cost of inaction,” added Holness.

He argued that the bridge could have been built at a substantially lower cost had it been completed years earlier.

“It would have cost us at least 30 per cent less if we had built this bridge four years ago. I wanted you to think on that,” he said.

The prime minister said his Administration is committed to modernising public investment and approval systems, reducing duplication, shortening approval timelines and creating accelerated pathways for critical infrastructure projects.

“Because efficiency is not the enemy of accountability,” he said.

As part of that effort, Holness pointed to the establishment of the National Agency for Reconstruction and Resilience (NaRRA).

“NaRRA will seek to structure projects, order them, cut unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, but at the same time gives a high level of accountability, transparency, and ensures the integrity of the processes.

“NaRRA will not only help us to recover from the hurricane and build resilience, but more importantly, NaRRA will show us that there is a better way to build Jamaica,” added Holness who charged that Jamaica’s bureaucracy has become overly focused on process at the expense of outcomes.

“The purpose of a process is to produce a result. When the process itself becomes an obstacle to result, then responsible leaders have an obligation to improve the process,” he said.

“The objective is not to choose between accountability and efficiency. The objective is to achieve both. The objective is not to weaken safeguards. The objective is to make our safeguards smarter,” added Holness.

The prime minister argued that transportation networks have historically connected communities, expanded opportunities and driven economic growth, placing the Troy Bridge in that tradition.

Looking ahead, he expressed confidence in the durability of the new structure while signalling that the project represented a broader shift in Government thinking.

“I am certain that this bridge will last another 150 years or more. But for me this is a turning point,” declared Holness.