MoBay Bypass project delayed until 2022

Construction of the Montego Bay Bypass in St James has been pushed back to 2022 instead of next year, the National Road Operating and Constructing Company (NROCC) has said.

According to managing director Ivan Anderson, this is because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He was addressing a virtual Town Hall, hosted by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and NROCC on Tuesday.

The meeting was to discuss the environmental impact assessment report on the project.

"A lot of the budgets have been reduced and that has also affected the timing of our project start time," Anderson said.

The project will be for 36 months, subject to environmental approval by NEPA.

The Montego Bay Bypass will be a 15-kilometre toll road stretching from the Rose Hall main road to the Bogue Highway.

The overall project will also comprise the Long Hill Bypass, as well as improvements to the Barnett Street and Westgreen areas in the parish.

This will be done at a cost of US$220 million to be funded by the Government.

- JIS