Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that Cabinet has approved the commencement of the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme, with work set to begin in December.

Holness made the announcement in the House of Representatives on November 12. The $45 billion project will see the improvement of 60 main roads and 600 priority roads across 63 constituencies. 

“Cabinet approval has been given for the project, and we expect it to start in the first half of December, and when we say start, we mean the mobilisation of works in constituencies,“ Holness shared.

Holness emphasised that the programme is not a temporary fix but a systematic effort to address the long-standing issues with Jamaica’s ageing infrastructure.

“Mr Speaker, there are many steps that have to be taken for such a programme to be effective. There are many agencies that have to be coordinated; we have to follow all the regulations; we haven’t skipped any or cut any. We are trying to follow all the rules because, to be clear, the SPARK programme is not a patching programme. For all the Jamaicans who are very frustrated about their roads, who are protesting, who are demonstrating, we hear you, we understand, and we drive on these roads too. 

We are not pretending as if there are no bad roads. Mr Speaker, I have to repeat over and over again that it is not the Jamaica Labour Party that creates bad roads in Jamaica, we have had bad roads for the last 40 or more years. This administration will never say that poor workmanship, poor material, or poor design is not a cause of some of the bad road conditions that we have. That is indisputable; we are not going to dispute that, and we must improve that. But the real cause of the problems citizens are experiencing now is that Jamaican infrastructure has aged without any systematic investment in the maintenance of the infrastructure,“ Holness stressed.

He added that the poor road conditions being seen today are due to Jamaicans not electing a government that could create the economic management of the resources of the country to support routine and consistent road maintenance.

“Mr Speaker, roads are not built to last forever; roads have an engineered lifetime, and the engineered lifetime of the road can only be extended if, when a crack appears, you maintain it; when a pothole appears, you patch it. It gets a little rain damage; you fix it. But for decades, that was not being done. Rain events happen, tropical storms happen, all kinds of things happen, damage the roads, they are not repaired, they are left there. The asphalt that is on the roads is there for 30-40 years; over a period of time that breaks down, and if it’s not replaced, it will deteriorate. Jamaica is at a point in time when we are suffering from aged infrastructure,“ Holness said.

The prime minister, in taking jabs at the opposition, said his administration is able to address the road situation in a systematic way because it has managed the economy well. He told Jamaicans that there is hope through the SPARK programme that will see the country’s roads brought up to international standards.