SCHIP to pick up speed
Gov’t to seek loan extension for highway project impacted by COVID delay
Published:Thursday | July 13, 2023 | 12:10 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT of Jamaica will be approaching the China Ex-Im Bank for an extension on the US$384 million loan procured in 2016 for the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project (SCHIP).
Chief Executive Officer of the National Works Agency (NWA), E.G. Hunter, made the disclosure at a post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday.
“I can tell you that we have requested an extension - the Government is in the process of requesting an extension because the timelines have been affected by things like COVID,” he said.
Hunter, who was given direct supervision of SCHIP by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Monday, explained that bilateral loans are usually stipulated to be spent within a specific timeline, failing which the funds can be recalled, leaving “a bad mark on the country”.
Prime Minister Holness broke ground for the SCHIP in November 2019.
According to Stephen Shaw, communications manager at the NWA, the funds were supposed to be spent within three years, with a two-year window for minor projects. This would mean that the entire SCHIP would be completed by 2024.
However, as it is now, the project is divided into 16 packages, but work is currently being done on 11. Packages one to 13 comprise the Yallahs Bridge to Port Antonio, while the Morant Bay to Cedar Valley leg covers the remaining packages.
“What is happening now is that two years would have taken us from October 2022 to September 2024, but where we are now is that we still have five packages that we have not yet started, and those in all reasonableness and expectations are likely to go beyond October of 2024,” he said.
The remaining five packages will be constructed by the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) with a duration of 18 months.
Shaw said an extension will be sought to extend the project by the end of the first quarter of 2025 at a minimum.
Meanwhile, Hunter disclosed that the Harbour View to Yallahs leg of the project, which is being constructed by CHEC, is expected to be completed by the end of next month. The company is also heavily involved in at least four of the remaining 10 packages.
Concerns over Local subcontractors
Addressing concerns about the delays of the project attributed to the work of local subcontractors, he explained that they were initially selected for a road-only project. However, he said early into the works, the NWA petitioned the Government to expand it to a full infrastructure project.
“Subcontractors were selected largely based on their proficiency as road contractors. When the Government took the decision to add the remaining infrastructure to the road, you literally changed the complexity of the undertaking,” he said.
He noted that this proved challenging for some local subcontractors who did not possess the requisite skills or management infrastructure to undertake the works. And while some adapted quickly and upskilled or outsourced resources, others did not.
“We are not saying that our local subcontractors are not good. What we are saying is that there is some deficit in terms of the operation, and they, too, need to do what we have done by upskilling their capabilities,” he said.
However, he emphasised that the majority of the local subcontractors have done well.
And while acknowledging the inconvenience that residents in the vicinity of the road works have undergone, Hunter requested patience.
“There is a little method to our madness in terms of what we are doing, but is it easy? Of course, it’s not. But we do believe in the wisdom of what we are trying to achieve, and we will continue,” he said. “We are confident in our position that the two-three years of discomfort and challenges that we face will shortly be supplanted by 50 years of enjoyment of the infrastructure that we are putting in.”