Dispute arises over agency responsibility for SPARK programme roadworks
Published:Monday | June 24, 2024 | 12:06 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
A dispute has surfaced regarding which agency should oversee the rehabilitation of community roads under the Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme announced by the government last year.
Alric Campbell, deputy mayor of Portmore, has expressed concern over the legitimacy of a request sent to councillors, asking them to submit 10 roads for consideration to the constituency office.
Calling the request a “sham”, Campbell argued that the responsibility for rehabilitating community roads should lie with the municipal corporation.
“I attended a community consultation hosted by the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) office of the St Catherine South Eastern constituency, and it was highlighted that this phase of the SPARK programme has to do with the rehabilitation of community roads,” Campbell stated during the recent general meeting of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation.
He emphasised that a significant concern has emerged regarding the status of the implementing agency responsible for undertaking work on parochial roads. These roads have traditionally fallen under the municipal corporation’s jurisdiction. According to Campbell, while main roads fall under the National Works Agency (NWA), the municipal corporation does not support the NWA carrying out work on community roads within their purview.
“We are asking for, if the project gets off the ground, that we be involved in the process. Even if another agency is doing the work, we expect the monitoring and supervision to be our responsibility,” Campbell argued.
Further expressing his scepticism about the programme’s execution, Campbell noted the lack of detailed cost estimations.
“I am not expecting that any work will be carried out until I see some correspondence requesting that estimates for the roads be done. In my view, if they intend to do work on the roads, they would want to know the scope of work to be done on each road,” he told The Gleaner.
The government began its community consultations in May on the SPARK initiative, which was announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness last year. The programme aims to revitalise more than 2,000 roads across the entire island.
Kedesha Rochester, director of the CDF, asserted that the process is non-partisan and involves expert technocrats dedicated to upholding principles of transparency, accountability, and collaboration. She reaffirmed that the SPARK programme’s execution would maintain these standards to ensure the initiative’s success.