KINGSTON, Jamaica – Work on the multibillion-dollar Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project is moving steadily, states Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Making his contribution to the 2023/2024 Budget Debate in the House of Representative, on March 16, the prime minister provided an update on Part B and the Eastern Section of the project.

He said the plight of citizens, who have endured “significant disruption to their daily lives due to these works is not lost on us”.

“That is why your Government continues to examine the progress carefully with a view to making changes for better execution. Steady progress is being made and already communities are benefiting from the improvement in the infrastructure,” he said.

He noted that the 17.4-kilometre four-lane roadway from Harbour View to the Yallahs Bridge is 87 per cent complete, with “practical completion scheduled for April 2023”.

“The rehabilitation and resurfacing of 123.65 kilometres of existing roadway from Yallahs Bridge to Port Antonio and Morant Bay to Cedar Valley are broken down in 15 subproject packages. Ten of these packages currently underway are in various stages of completion and are expected to be completed in December 2023. The final five packages are scheduled to commence in 2023/2024, and are expected to be completed in March 2025,” the prime minister said.

Holness disclosed that over the upcoming months, the National Works Agency (NWA) will be constructing three new bridges at a cost of just over $1 billion, which include the Troy Bridge in Trelawny, Craigmill Bridge in Portland and the Spring Village Bridge in St Catherine.

“The NWA has already completed the designs and costings for these bridges and is now going through the public investment justification phase, before going to procurement. We know that there are many more bridges that need to be repaired, and we are currently designing a programme to address the general replacement and repair of bridges islandwide, which will be announced in the next budget,” he told the House.

Meanwhile, Holness said that through the CHASE Fund, a museum will be built in Morant Bay, to ensure that current and future generations are “rooted and grounded in the knowledge of our rich cultural and historical heritage”.