Five international firms invited to bid on Jamaica’s $40 billion SPARK Project
Vanassa McKenzie / Our Today
Robert Morgan, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, responsible for Works, says five international companies have been selected to bid on the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) Programme.
He made the disclosure while speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday (June 12).
“This week we will be sending bid proposals to those five pre-qualified enterprise construction companies, and these proposals will be for them to bid on the four packages that are across the island. We expect those bid proposals to be returned by mid-August, and then we will seek approval from the Public Procurement Commission as well as Cabinet to award contracts by the end of September this year,” the Minister said.
Morgan said the contracts will be for two years, with an additional year for defects liability, during which the contractor will carry out corrective measures if there are challenges with the completed works.
The $40 billion road improvement project will see the modernisation of more than 2,000 roads island-wide.
The de facto works minister with responsibility said a priority list of roads has been developed following consultations led by the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). He said consultations continue across constituencies.
“We have developed a priority list of roads based on these consultations, and these roads are being subjected to inspection and rapid assessment to determine the preliminary cost to rehabilitate these roads in keeping with the SPARK policy mandate,” Morgan said.
He added that a list has been sent to the National Water Commission (NWC) to determine the status of water lines on the roadways. He said preliminary costs will be shared with the CDF for the final priority list per constituency for the initial $1 million allocation.
Sixty main roads have also been selected by the National Works Agency (NWA) for implementation in the project.
Morgan also assured local contractors that they would be an integral part of the SPARK programme.
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