MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Opposition spokesperson on transport and works Mikael Phillips is urging the Government to not neglect main roads in dire need of repair, as it focuses on the expansion of the country’s highway network.

Phillips, in pointing out the deterioration of the Scott’s Pass to Porus main road, suggested the Government is disregarding it due to the US$188-million May Pen to Williamsfield leg of Highway 2000.

The highway, which when completed will give motorists travelling along the southern section of the country an option to bypass roads including the narrow Porus main road, is fast advancing to be completed ahead of the March 2023 deadline.

“They tend to ignore the alternative route but [it] is still the responsibility of the Government,” he said last week.

The deterioration of the Scott’s Pass to Porus main road has adversely affected the flow of traffic on the Manchester/Clarendon border.

Phillips, who is Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester North Western, accused the Government of ignoring rural Jamaica when compared to urban areas.

“One of the things we have been talking about is just to remind the Government, because of how they spend the money, that Kingston is not Jamaica. Montego Bay is not rural Jamaica, we have seen [that] it is a tendency of the Government to ignore rural parishes — infrastructural improvement and maintenance,” he said.

“If you were to drive from Mandeville to Spur Tree or go down to Santa Cruz, Lacovia, Black River, you would see the deterioration of the roadway and the lack of maintenance. MPs get blamed for it, but these are National Works Agency [NWA] roads,” he added.

Phillips reiterated his view that the removal of the Road Maintenance Fund in 2018 under the Andrew Holness-led Government is adversely affecting the country’s road network.

He pledged that a “People’s National Party Government will be looking at bringing back a road maintenance fund to have scheduled maintenance” of the nation’s main roads.

“There is no Government that will be able to maintain our road network right now coming from central government coffers… Every advanced economy in the world uses a road maintenance fund for the maintenance of the existing roadway,” said Phillips.

According to the Jamaica Information Service, resources for the road maintenance fund were received from the Inland Revenue Department on a monthly basis and was calculated at one third of total collection of the island’s motor licences fees. A two-and-half per cent handling fee was deducted by the Inland Revenue Department for administrative purposes.

Phillips said while the Government has said it is short on resources to repair roads islandwide, rural Jamaica is being left behind.

“The prime minister in his own style says that they don’t have enough resources, so they have to prioritise, but while he tries to prioritise on the little resources, it is not going to do especially rural parishes any good,” said Phillips.

“When you drive through the country now the place look just pop down and potholes [are] killing us, because of the lack of resources for road maintenance,” added Phillips.

He claimed that the Government has a “lack of foresight” in the maintenance of the road network.

“We have been talking about a maintenance programme and schedule for NWA roads, which have fallen on deaf ears, both from the minister, who is the prime minister [Andrew Holness], of works and the NWA. I can’t blame the NWA too much in this, because if the Government doesn’t give them the resources to maintain roads then, it can’t be done,” he said.

“I am sure the response of the Government in this instance would be that every Member of Parliament has been [allocated] $40 million in this financial year to maintain roads. But if you are to look at the density of the roadways, especially in rural constituencies, $40 million is a drop in the bucket to maintain even these roadways,” added Phillips.