KINGSTON Mayor Andrew Swaby has challenged Works Minister Robert Morgan to acknowledge the funding challenges facing municipal corporations across Jamaica, arguing that the deteriorating state of the country’s roads cannot be blamed on local authorities without recognising the inadequate resources available to them.

Swaby, speaking at Tuesday’s sitting of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation monthly meeting, continued his public joust with Morgan, accusing him of singling out the Opposition-led corporation for criticism while appearing to overlook similar difficulties facing municipalities controlled by the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

“I have observed that Minister of Works Robert Nesta Morgan has developed what appears to be a rather special interest in the affairs of the KSAMC, and in me personally. Judging from how frequently he speaks about the KSAMC, one would assume that he was given the responsibility for local government. I trust that Minister [of Local Government Desmond] McKenzie has been advised of this apparent expansion of his colleague’s responsibility,” Swaby commented, drawing murmurs of agreement and chuckles from councillors within the chamber.

“What I find particularly interesting, however, is that I have heard little from Minister Morgan about the challenges facing municipal corporations led by his own party,” he continued.

Swaby’s scrutiny comes as a direct response to Morgan’s September media comments, in which the works minister claimed the KSAMC was not doing enough to effect change on municipal roads.

At the time, Morgan admitted that several major thoroughfares in the Corporate Area were in need of repair but argued that many, including South Avenue, Lindsay Crescent and Beechwood Avenue, are municipal corporation roads and are to be fixed by the KSAMC.

MORGAN… claimed the KSAMC was not doing enough to effect change on municipal roads.

“For example, most of the roads that the Government has fixed in Kingston and St Andrew are not NWA (National Works Agency) roads, they are KSAMC (Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation) roads, and before this new mayor [Andrew Swaby] came in, the Parochial Revenue Fund was about $700 million a year; it is now over $1 billion, and we have not seen a commensurate increase in the allocation for repairing roads,” Morgan told the Jamaica Observer.

But on Tuesday, Swaby argued that the challenges facing the KSAMC were not unique, pointing out that discussions with JLP mayors and councillors had revealed widespread concerns about insufficient funding for road maintenance and other necessary services.

“They too are struggling with inadequate resources to maintain roads and provide essential services to their municipalities. Some may not enjoy the same freedom to speak publicly about these difficulties, but their silence should not be mistaken for the absence of concern. So I would encourage Minister Morgan to turn some of his attention to those municipalities. He may discover that the concerns I have raised are shared by many of my colleagues on his side,” urged Swaby.

The mayor further questioned how Morgan could expect the KSAMC to adequately address its decrepit road network when the Government’s $40-billion Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme was insufficient to rehabilitate all roads requiring attention nationally.

“Nobody expects the SPARK programme to fix every road in Jamaica. So if $40 billion cannot address all our road rehabilitation needs, how does Minister Morgan expect the KSAMC to do so with the meagre resources at his disposal?” he asked.

The mayor explained that during the 2025-2026 financial year, the corporation received an average $85 million monthly from the parochial revenue fund (PRF) which must finance not only road maintenance but also drain cleaning, and de-bushing across its 40 divisions.

According to Swaby, rehabilitating a single kilometre of parochial road, approximately 6.5 metres wide, costs about $40 million.

With more than 100 kilometres of roads requiring attention across Kingston and St Andrew, Swaby said a project of that magnitude would require at the very least a supportive budget of $4 billion.

“If that programme were to be undertaken in over 12 months, it would require an expenditure of an average of $333 million every month. Compare that with $85 million we received monthly from the Parochial Revenue Fund in the last financial year, which must also cover drain cleaning, de-bushing and other things. The difference is substantial. It illustrates the inadequacy of the present financial arena,” remarked Swaby.

He maintained that no amount of administrative efficiency could overcome the existing funding shortfall, stressing that the core issue remains an inadequate budget.

“We can establish a new authority, reorganise existing agencies, and change administrative arrangements under which roads are managed. But unless we confront the underlying financial problem, we risk transferring responsibility for deteriorating roads from one institution to another without providing the resources necessary to improve them. That would hardly constitute meaningful reform,” charged Swaby.