WITH potholes causing almost daily logjams in the Corporate Area, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has started a major road patching project across the city.

Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby says patching has started on badly damaged sections of 20 to 25 roads, including some which he said are under the control of the National Works Agency (NWA).

Swaby said the municipal corporation is targeting some of the worst-affected areas in downtown Kingston, and New Kingston, with surrounding communities also included in the programme.

“They are not only community roads but actually we are fixing some main roads, and…

it’s important for us to fix those main roads because clearly, where you have these big craters across the road it impedes traffic.

It appears you have to slow down and it builds up that traffic,” Swaby said after touring some of the road work on Thursday.

According to Swaby, the KSAMC was helping to repair some roads which are the responsibility of the NWA because of the effect their condition was having on traffic.

The decision comes against the background of a monthslong dispute between the leadership of some municipal corporations and minister with responsibility for works Robert Morgan over the condition of roads and the amount of money available to repair them.

Morgan has repeatedly argued that municipal corporations must do more to maintain roads under their control.

In September, Swaby told the Jamaica Observer that most of the roads repaired by the NWA in Kingston and St Andrew were KSAMC roads and argued that the Parochial Revenue Fund — which supports road work and other municipal works — had increased significantly without a similar increase in road repairs.

Swaby has repeatedly argued that the corporation’s resources are stretched thin because the same funds used for road repairs must also support other municipal responsibilities.

On Thursday, Swaby doubled down on his position as he pointed to the funding pressure and said the KSAMC would be better able to meet its mandate if it had more money.

“Obviously, if we had more funds, we would be in a better position to respond to the people of Kingston and St Andrew, and we are trying our best to see how we can garner the funds from what is owed to us, along with what the Government gives us, to fix these roads,” he said.

“Let me remind people that the Parochial Revenue Fund not only fixes roads, but it is the same fund that is required to do other things.

So we don’t have a dedicated resource, a fund to say every month we are in a position to spend ‘x’ on roads.

There are times… we have to divert those funds in cleaning drains.

So we continue to face the challenges, and we are looking at ways of how best we can fix these roads,” Swaby said.

The mayor’s explanation came months after the KSAMC announced a $220-million road rehabilitation programme covering all 40 divisions of the municipality.

By March, the corporation said 33 roads had been repaired at a cost of $90 million, with the remaining programme intended to cover additional roads.

In June, the KSAMC also increased allocations under its Divisional Allocation Fund from $10 million to $13 million for each urban division and $13.5 million for rural divisions.

The fund covers road repairs as well as other activities, including drain cleaning, emergency work, and community programmes.